Tales From The Loop - Amazon Prime

I was intrigued to see Tales from the Loop reccomendation on my Amazon watch list so I had to give it a go.  

I had seen the haunting images of artist Simon Stålenhag on the internet many years ago and was not aware that these had been turned into 3 narrative coffee table art books in the same vein as the wonderful Terran Trade Authority Spaceship books of my youth.

Tales From The Loop

Things From The Flood

The Electric State

I was coming at the series completely blind having only having seen the imagery which according to Ståhlenhag was inspired by two of my favourite futurists Syd Mead and Ralph McQuarrie.

Tales from the Loop is an 8 episode series set in a late 1970s / 80s that never was.  Each story focuses on a single character and their tale of living in a community dominated by a secret underground government research facility.  Without plot spoiling here is how I rate each episode and my overall thoughts on the series.

• Episode 1 - Loop.  The story of a girl (Abby Ryder Fortson) intrigued by the secret work her mother does at the Loop searches for answers with unfortunate consequences.  A confusing but haunting 3 out of 5.
  
  
• Episode 2 - Transpose.  Two boys Danny (Tyler Barnhardt) and Jakob (Daniel Zolghadri) discover a machine in the woods which allows them to trade places.  A classic tale of envy which has life changing ramifications for them both. A predictabaly dark 4 out of 5.
  
  
• Episode 3 - Stasis.  May (Nicole Law) is a genius tinkering teen unhappy with the direction her life is going in. She discovers a mysterious capsule on the seashore and manages to get it to work with surprising effects.  A genuinely original take on a much used trope, 5 out of 5.
  
  
• Episode 4 - Echo Sphere.  This episode tells the story of the twilight years of Loop Architect Russ (Jonathan Pryce) and the relationship he has with his grandson.  A slow, beautifully acted but sad 3 out of 5.
  
  
• Episode 5 - Control - As Danny's family come to terms with his coma, his father Ed (Dan Bakkedahl) tries desperately to protect his family from a mysterious intruder and keep his marriage together.  The stories begin to intertwine and truth unravels.  A teasingly good 4 out of 5.
  
• Episode 6 - Parallel - Security Guard Gaddis (Ato Essandoh) has fallen in love with a man in a photo he found in an abandoned hover tractor.  When he fixes the tractor he discovers the truth about both the man and himself.  Inventive whatiffery with a rare hopeful ending (at last!!). 4 out of 5.
  
  
• Episode 7 - Enemies - Russ's son George is marooned on a mysterious island by his friends where he survives as best he can against a terrifying inhabitant.  A naibiting and suspenseful 4 out of 5.
     
• Epsiode 8 - Home - Cole (Duncan Joiner), the youngest of Loretta and George's children struggles to cope with the loss of both his grandfather and his brother.  When Jakob tells him the truth he goes in search of his brother only to lose everything in the process.  Jodie Foster directed episode which tries to tie up the episode into a single arc.  A melancholic 4 out 5. 

What I Liked

This is a rare example of character focussed storytelling in a genre which typically obsesses over the what and the why things happen.  Every epsiode is a cautionary tale about what could happen when technology is misused but more importantly focusses on how this affects the lives of the characters and what is going on inside their heads.  The central premise of each episode is usually a well established trope, with the notable exception of the Echo Sphere.  The series succeeds in taking that trope and heading off in a new direction with dystopian consequences.

I loved the way that the characters are gradually dripped into the series until we get to see their tale.  Jakob's love May is introduced in episode 2 and her story is Episode 3, we meet Danny's family in episode 2 also and his father Ed's story turns up at Episode 5.   

What I didn't

The slow pace is just too slow in places.  I understand that the show is based on Simon Stålenhag's artwork which often looks like time is standing still.  I get that the visual dictionary is those haunting swedish landscapes full of vintage anachronistic flavour.  TV is a different way of telling those stories with a different pace and I think that the cinematography lingered too long to the detriment of the story.

This is a minor gripe really and as a whole I will score the series a 4 out of 5.  It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea and you need to be in a contemplative mood to really enjoy it,  If they make a second series I hope they keep writing those intertwined stories but just up the pace a little.

The Roleplaying Game

The Tales from the Loop RPG has been around for a few years now and is reasonably well established.  In fact I almost bought it at Dragonmeet 2019, perhaps I will pick it up and begin to write my own tales in a dystopian 80s that never was.

Tales From The Loop RPG

Our Friends The Machines

Tales From The Flood

Shameless Plug

You can watch the entire series on Amazon Prime.  If you are not a member you can take advantage of the Free 30 Day Trial.

Prog 7 - Mitterand Maisons

A continuing series of session reports from my current Judge Dredd game using Starblazer Adventures rules.

The judges head off to Mitterand Maisons.  Holmes calls her stoolie Vinny the Spiv and leaves a voice message

"Hey Vinny, it's Holmes, tell me what you know about the career perp Pepe Le Peu and any rumours about some missing Nitro 9."

Two hours later the patrol arrives at Mitterand Mansions level 300 Plaza 4a, a wideopen rec platform dominated by a 3/4 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower, a famous landmark which stands in the center of Paris or as it is now know Euro City.

Judge Dredd World Map Showing all the Mega Cities

Judges Wallace and Que spot a couple of suspicious looking characters around the side of the block, but before they can investigate a strange figure leaps in front of them and proceeds to grab their attention.

Original Background art by Neil Miller  (http://www.neilmillervfx.com)

He is dressed in a stripy black and white outfit with a white painted face and a black beret. He appears to be mute and is trying to tell the Judges something. After a few minutes the judges realise that this is in fact a mime and he is trapped behind an imaginary glass wall.

Annoyed with the delay Judge Steel attempts to arrest the mime for Obstruction of Justice (Code 1203: 6 months to 3 years).  He is reminded by Judge Hiro that, under local cultural laws, miming is in fact legal as long as you have the required Comedic Association of Mime Performers (CAMP) license.  The mime promptly shows his CAMP ID card.

The patrol enters the block and takes the lift down to level 258.  When the doors open they are greeted by a fetid smell.  This level is in some disrepair with moss covering the walls upto waist height and a steady drip, drip, drip of water comes from exposed ceiling pipework running the length of the corridor.  What was once a fine carpet is now a soggy mess of puddles.  Traversing the corridor towards apartment 33 their footsteps make unmistakable crunching sounds as they crush hundreds of tiny snails who seem to have taken up residence.  Many of them gathering around balls of synthi-lettuce which appear to have been strategically placed at intervals along the hallway.  Clearly someone is running a snail farm Illegal Experiments (Code:1602 10 Years to Life).

Hiro fails to breach the door with the standard issue judge boot and Wallace shoots out the lock.  The element of surprise long gone, the well trained Judges rush the room and instinctively assume firing positions covering every corner.  The room is spotlessly clean unlike the exterior and the only signs of habitation are an overly ripe synthi-camembert in the fridge with a huge bite taken out of it.  Holmes pulls out her hand-held DNA scanner and fires off an ID request to BARNEY.

The Judges are puzzled, there doesn't seem to be anything of note in fact the apartment doesn't look lived in at all.  It has all the usual furnishings and a large vid screen which has been left in standby mode. They decide to engage in a bit of old school house to house enquiries with the occupants of the neighbouring apartments.

Apartment #31 is occupied by a child who says that his mum is out shopping and that he is not allowed to open the door to strangers.  Steele threatens the child with summary detention in Juvenile Hall and the child breaks down wailing in tears.

Apartments #32, #34 and #35 do not answer.

Hiro and Wallace knock at #30, the sounds of a raucous group of at least 3 individuals can be heard along with the unmistakeable ratatattat of automatic gunfire.  Hiro shoutsthe magic words:

"Judge Inspection, open up citizens"

A juve in his late teens opens the door sheepishly and the judges enter.  Inside are two other male juves of similar ages sitting on the couch surrounded by a plethora of synthi-soda cans, bags of recycled-carbo-chips and sump candy wrappers.  They are both wearing game-gloves and Tri-D glasses.  An out of focus image of a block war ridden street shimmers a rainbow of colours on the vid screen with the words GAME PAUSED in the centre.  One of the more popular virtual vid games BLOCK MANIA is now in its 35th edition and is often prescribed to treat those unfortunate sufferers of Future Shock Syndrome.

The Juves are Franc, Percy and Emil La Rue.  They say they know Mr Le Peu but he's some kind of gangster so they keep away from him.  He always has people coming to see him, but he's not been around for some days now.  They tell the Judges that the other apartments are empty but Mr Le Peu's younger brother used to live at #32. They thank the boys for being good citizens and remind them to "Stay out of Trouble".

Assault on Apartment 32

Assuming a standard breaching position on either side of the door, Hiro shoots out the lock on apartment #32.  Wallace kicks the door in and Steele is first into the room.  This apartment has been stripped to it's bare plascrete bones and in its place stand various military flight cases emblazoned with IDs linking them to Citi-Def units throughout the Eurozone.  Two of the cases are marked Explosive Ordnance Nitro-9 but are empty. 

The only signs of domestic life are the stacks of unfolded pizza boxes and the functioning Vid screen on the wall which is showing an image of the interior of apartment #33.  A cable dangles from the TV to a small radio transmitter with a flashing red light.  The Judges seal the door to the apartment with crime tape and call for a Tek Judge squad to bag the evidence.  They decide to head down to the security station near the entrance to Plaza 4A.

Reviewing the corridor cam footage from the last week and there is a significant amount of traffic to apartment 258-33 including a visit from Nigel Faraway's right hand man Tom Vampire a few days ago.  When Le Peu answers the door to visitors he invariably crosses the corridor to #34 and returns with a pizza box which he gives to the caller.  They shake hands, the guest leaves and Le Peu retuns to his apartment.

Their focus is interrupted by a call from Sector Control.  There has been a report of an abduction at Thatcher Towers, apartment 202-47, occupant Iona Skye.

Judges Holmes, Hiro and Steele head to Thatcher Towers and arrive on foot 7 minutes later.  The security station is bustling with concerned residents including a couple of Iona skye's elderley neighbours.  Betty Corker and Stanley Unwins.  The CCTV shows 4 well built perps dressed in black wearing balaclavas come out of the lift on floor 202 and progressively disable the CCTV cameras as they move down the length of the corridor.  The final footage shows one perp reaching up for the camera and the other 3 standing outside apartment 202-47.  This wanton Criminal Damage (Code: 901 2 to 6 Years) will not go unpunished and supplement the much more serious charges of Kidnap (Code: 302 30 Years to Life).

Heading up to the scene of the abduction it is clear that Iona Skye put up a struggle, there are several pieces of broken furniture and smashed bottles of urine.  Judge Steele's attention is drawn to an old fashioned picture frame lying on the floor.  He picks the photo out of the smashed frame reading the handwritten message on the back.

"Beautiful Bertha, we couldn't have done it without you.  May 2134"

There was no sign of the black clad oldienappers leaving Thatcher Towers but Betty Corker mentioned that she spotted them carrying a large orange sack past the lift.  The only thing past the lift is an emergency stairwell.  It is possible that they changed clothes and left via another floor.

Holmes and Hiro head for the security station whilst Steele investigates the stairwell.

NEXT PROG -> Royal Rumble at Le Teeny Eiffel Tower

Back Issues

• Prog 1 - Another Day in Mega City One
• Prog 2 - Super Duper Loops and Loopy Droops
• Prog 3 - Juve Punks, a Vampire and Meg Way Carnage
• Prog 4 - Pre Race Rumbles, Narcs and Pizza
• Prog 5 - Ed, Edd, Eddy and ED209 
• Prog 6 -Vive La Resistance

5 Essential Tools if You Own an FDM 3D Printer

I've owned an FDM 3D Printer for over two years and, as a mad keen tabletop gamer, I think that they are an absolute necessity particularly if you are like me and also love making scenery to go along with your game.

My Printer is a cheap as chips Geetech CTC i3 Pro B (Prusa i3 clone) Buy one from Amazon

I've compiled this list of 5 items I have purchased during the last 2 years which I wish I had purchased along with my printer.

Side Cutters An absolute essential if you are printing models with support structures. A pair of side cutters makes the onerous task of support removal a doddle. They also come in extremely handy when you are changing the filament in your printer snipping off any bent sections so you know you are inserting a clean straight length of PLA or ABS into your hot end.  I recommend a pair as you will always need one by your printer and one at your craft station when you are assembling your models. You don't need to spend a lot of money on side cutters but believe you me your world will change when you have them.
Electric Nail File In addition to ensuring that you and your significant other have a great manicure and pedicure, the electric nail fire is an awesome way to sand those pesky printing ridges away from your models. You can use a portable rotary tool like a dremel, but the advantages of the electric nail file are that the business end is very light, it only contains the motor, and the power supply end is mains powered so no charging neccessary. The power supply also contains a speed control giving you far more control than the limited speeds offered by the alternatives.  PLA has a tendency to melt rather than sand particularly if you are going full bore.  Having access to slower speeds is essential.
Nozzle Cleaning Kit Absolutely essential for cleaning out those inevitable nozzle jams and useful when changing filament.  Most come with a selection of replacement nozzles because they don't last for ever, am I right? My kit also came with a pair of non-magnetic tweezers which are incredibly useful if you ever need to do any maintenance on your printer as you will most definitely be handling some pretty small metal parts like screws and washers which can be tricky to get into small tight spaces. A spanner comes in handy for swapping those nozzles when they finally wear out.
Modelling Filler Putty Even the best sander will never truly get rid of those printing ridges and having a good sandable modelling filler is a must if you want really smooth PLA models. I use this PLASMO putty from Revell as it is designed for use with plastic model kits so has excellent adhesion to plastic.  It is exceptionally fine and has a super smooth surface when sanded. The only quibble I have is that it is a bit smelly as it contains a fast drying alcohol based medium.  The upside is that it's super fast drying unlike Milliput which can take 24 hrs to really set properly.  It has a creamy consistency so goes on nice and smooth getting into all those valleys between the ridge lines when smeared using a tongue depressor dipped in water.  Frankly, I wish I had had this on some of my earlier prints which look pretty ropey compared to my post putty prints.
More Filament Of course once you get a 3D Printer you can guarantee that you will be creating models left, right and center.  Nobody wants to be running out of filament so make sure you have a good stock in. I always recommend going with a vibrant colour if you are printing for modelling purposes for two main reasons. The filament tends to be cheaper the more lurid the colour.  Prices for White, Black, Grey and Transparent filament are off the charts lately thanks to the worldwide PLA shortage. The vibrant colour makes the proces of post processing and painting much easier.  You can see much more clearly where you need to apply more putty or where you need to do a bit more sanding to get a flat surface. There are plenty of manufacturers out there but I have personally had great results with Verbatim.

Disclaimer

Clicking on the Amazon affiliate links to the products above, and making a purchase, directly helps supports this channel and helps me to keep up with the running costs of my hobby and producing content for my readers.

Happy printing.

Jessie's Prints Episode 5 - Judge Dredd Movie Prop Badge

This week, I are mostly been printing... 

Judge Dredd's Badge - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:114711

This may seem a bit random, but I am also hard at work typing up my session reports from a Judge Dredd game I ran over 2 years ago. Never let it be said that I don't finish things. I just got to find all of my scribblings...

Life is about Discovering New Things

Today I discovered that there is a range of colourshifting metallic miniature paints called Turbo Dork!!

My particular favourites are:

Afterburner	Forest Flux
Ground is Lava	Shell Shocked

If anyone wants to donate a pot for me to test please feel free to contact me via the comments below.

Star Wars Day 2020 - May The Fourth Be With You!

This years #StarWarsDay finds us in lockdown and whilst The New Trilogy is still a festering sore in it's cinematic legacy there is still much to be celebrated.

 Enjoy your holiday and fill yourself with A New Hope.

Reaper Bones #15 - The Road Warrior - Mad Max

This week we hit the big 50 and to celebrate I share with you another classic miniature:

Rex, Dark Future Hero (Tim Prow SKU:80009)

This guy has been called many things over the years; The Road Warrior, The Bronze, The Dark One, a raggedy man, Captain Walker, a scavenger and even a blood bag.  Most of us just know him as Mad Max.

Armed with his trusty sawed-off double barrelled shotgun (and less trusty ammo) he cuts the perfect silhouette in the post apocalyptic wasteland.  In the kickstarter he was packed with the Chronoscope miniatures, but let's face it, he's a genre all to himself!

Bones Progress

Reaper Bones: 245 - Painted: 50

Related Posts

• Reaper Bones #1: The Marathon Begins - Where I paint a dozen Giant Rats.
• Reaper Bones #2: Kobolds, Are They Dogs or Dragons? - Where I paint a dozen kobolds.
• Reaper Bones #3: A Carcase of Skeletons - Where I paint a half dozen skeletons.
• Reaper Bones #4: A Shuffle of Zombies - Where I paint five zombies.
• Reaper Bones #5: Introducing Shaina Coppervein, Dwarven Orc Hunter - First PC mini.
• Reaper Bones #6: Mimic, Treasure Chest and How I re-base my Bones - Where I paint furniture.
• Reaper Bones #7: Fire Elemental Meets Novelty Lamp - Where I hack a mini with LEDs.
• Reaper Bones #8: Flaming Sphere LED Tealight Hack - Another mini LED lighting project.
• Reaper Bones #9: Elliwyn Heatherlark, Gnome Bard - Another PC mini.
• Reaper Bones #10: Horace "Action" Jackson - A Baddass disco dancing Motherfucker.
• Reaper Bones #11: Pirate Captain Thorin Stoneheart - A Swashbuckling Philanthropist. 
• Reaper Bones #12: Monstrous Menagerie - Clay Golem, Eye Beast, Griffon, Owlbear, Marsh Troll
• Reaper Bones #13: Giants - Male Storm Giant and Female Cloud Giant
• Reaper Bones #14: More Monsters! - Ape-X, Female Demon, Two Golems, Oxidation Beast

Justifiers - Long Dead Game Unofficial Miniatures Review

Last week I blogged about my love of one particular long dead game from the 80s, Justifiers RPG.

I have subsequently unearthed some of the custom miniatures I made for each of the player characters.

Justifiers was already dead when I acquired my copy and it was never a big game to begin with.  There were never any officially licensed miniatures and back in those days sci-fi minis were very much dominated by the Grim Dark 40K style.  There was a very small cottage industry of gaming miniature makers like Denizen but they were focusing on anime and movie properties.  There was nothing I could do but make my own.

Custom Justifiers PC Minis (LtoR: Fox, Rhino, Gazelle, Bat and Owl)

I wanted the characters to be wearing their company issue vacc suits, so I turned to the nearest simalcrum 1/72nd scale flight crew.  Specifically I chose the the Italieri #1246 Nato Pilots and Ground Crews box set which you can still get today from Amazon

#1246 Nato Pilots and Ground Crews Buy From Amazon

A bit of Milliput sculpting later and I had added the necessary ears, horns, wings, snouts and other animal features to turn these into the required Fox, Rhino, Gazelle, Bat and Owl miniatures to match my players characters.

Needless to say these went down a storm and the other miniatures from the set were given a liberal black undercoat and left to represent NPCs.  The game plot was essentially an escape from a rival corporate spaceyard, so I bought a box of Russian Infantry to be the enemy force.  I have a feeling they were also by Italieri or Airfix.


Being plastic these are too lightweight to be left unbased and I chose the extravagant option of mounting them to 5p pieces (1p pieces were too large).

The moral of this tale is that you can still give your long dead games some table time with a bit of imagination and a few plastic soldiers.

If you want to relive the 80s and play the Justifiers RPG you can buy the watermarked PDF from DrivethruRPG. 

Lasers & Feelings: How can you fit so much game in just 1 sheet of A4?

The April 2020 RPG Blog Carnival hosted by Codex Anathema has the interesting theme of "To Boldly Go" which for me only means one thing... Star Trek.

Star Trek in a Single Page

I'm a big fan of Indie RPGs and when I make my annual pilgrimage to London's biggest RPG convention, Dragonmeet, I always try to get myself in on a game run by the London Indie RPG Meetup Group.  Games are pitched every hour, on the hour and usually run for 2 to 3 hours.  It is very rare that I can't get a game of something at the first attempt.

I first encountered Lasers & Feelings at one such Dragonmeet and was blown away by it's simplicity.  The entire game, including the plot generator, fits on one sheet of A4.  The game unashamedly harks back to the halcyon days of Star Trek (TOS) with its focus on derring do and emotionally chargeds romantic encounters.

Skills (Lasers and Feelings)

The core mechanic of the game revolves around two skills, Lasers (all the physical stuff and technical stuff) and Feelings (all the intuition and emotional stuff).  When you generate your character you choose where on the scale of 2 to 5 you want to be, The higher the number the more adept at Lasers, the lower the number the more adept at Feelings.

Skill checks are done with 1 or more D6 with Laser success rolling BELOW your skill number and Feelings ABOVE your skill number.  A roll of exactly your skill number results is known as LASER FEELINGS and you get to ask the GM a question which he will answer honestly.

These people are not meekly going on a space adventure

This sort of super simple system often results in Lasers characters being required to make Feelings rolls and the system includes a mechanic for helping out your crewmates by lending them a die.  Counting the number of successes

Like a lot of Indie RPGs the game lends itself to players contributing ideas on the fly from worldbuilding to storyline.  The best games I've played and run have always built upon the skeleton of the Adventure Creator with the best ideas being supplied by the players.  If you are going to try it unleash your imagination and you will have a blast.

---

Thanks of course go to Of Dice and Dragons for continuing to promote the RPG Blog Carnival.  This is my 6th entry and you can read the rest by clicking the RPG Blog Carnival tag below.

Big Box Project - Part 3 - Happy belated Aliens Day!

Can you believe that it's 34 years since the release of the movie Aliens!!  Man I feel old.

The Bugs Won

Unfortunately due to the current lockdown all non-essential stores are closed which meant I couldn't purchase the black paintpen needed to complete my UD-4L Cheyenne Dropship noseart and I missed publishing this on #AlienDay.

However, it has come on leaps and bounds in the last few days and I am on the homestretch.

Cutting out the Stencil

This was a bear of a job and makes me yearn for a stencil cutting machine or a laser cutter.  Being a complete idiot I didn't think about printing the stencil on my 3D Printer.  Once this is over I will design one and put it on thingiverse and save everyone the tedium of hand cutting a stencil.

Airbrushing the Graphics

The original artwork is a bit flat and I wanted the elements to have a bit of a 3D feel to them.  Once each base coat was dry I shot the eagle with a lighter brown in the middle, then both text ribbons got a darker bottom shade of blue and red respectively and the beak got a light yellow highlight.  I did not highlight the boots, soles or the bullet casings as these were relatively small areas of colour and could not be masked easily.

Peeling off the masking

I asked one of my similarly aged work colleagues "What is the most fun you can have with a bottle of Copydex glue?".  I was not dissapointed when they responded with the answer "peeling it off your hand like it's rotting skin".  This was a a rite of passage in the 80s.

The act of peeling off the masking gave me the exact same satisfying feeling mixed with the rush you get when you open a mystery present or solve a really hard puzzle.  The results exceeded my expectations.

Blacklining 

As I mentioned above the blacklining needed a thin black marker and all the shops are shut due to the lockdown, so this had to wait until I made an "essential" shopping trip a few days later.  I managed to get two sharpies a fine and ultra fine twin tip and a fine tip for just £2.  The process of lining was pretty simple and I'm sure you will agree it makes the world of difference.

Panel Lines & Rivets

The piece de resistance in this artwork is of course adding the panel lines and rivets, after all this is supposed to be painted on the side of a USCMC Dropship.  I followed the excellent Youtube tutorial from Airbrush Asylum and I think it turned out okay.

Video

For those interested (probably not very many) I did put together a little montage of the stenciling part of this project.  Enjoy...

Jessie's Prints Episode 4 - Rick and Morty Flying Car

This week, I are mostly been printing... 

Rick Sanchez's Flying Car - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3407058 

Another bucket list model for me.  The designer OneIdMONstr has put a lot of thought and consideration into how anyone downloading this model is going to actually print and build it.  

Start by measuring your own dome (mine came from a string of cheap Xmas lights) which you can then use to dimension the test dome file.  This will give you your scaling factor (mine was 58.05%) which you then apply to all the other files. Parts of this model are so tiny at that scale that it is approaching the limit of how small my printer go.  Sadly Rick and Morty are a bit wonky donkey and some parts like the steering wheel, well just don't go there.

Unfortunately I did not have any transparent filament to print the filler segments that fit in the slits in the top and bottom saucer parts.  However, I used an old modelling trick.  I taped over the slits and then mixed up some 5 minute epoxy (Araldite) with a bit of yellow paint.  This was then buttered into the slit from the underside.  

In hindsight I should have thinned down the yellow with water as the Scale 75 Paint I used is incredibly heavily pigmented specifically to counteract the tendency of yellow to be translucent. 

There are a few things I need to add to this model like the beer bottles and cans which litter the interior.  The model is designed to be lit, so when I find an appropriate string of bright white LEDs I will update this post.

Reaper Bones #14 - More Monsters

It's Monday Miniatures time again and here is the latest installment of the Reaper Bones Painting Marathon where we edge closer to 20% completion!

Ape-X, Super Villain (Jason Wiebe SKU:50031)

I'm fast becoming a fan of Jason Wiebe's sculpts and this steampunk cyborg homage to Gorilla Grodd is one of those odd but must have minis.  As you can see my airbrush work is getting a bit better by this time.  Shame we can't say the same for the photography.

Flesh Golem (James Van Schaik SKU:77169)

Another fantastic cross genre miniature which could easily double as Frankenstein's Monster or some other horrible experiment gone wrong in your Doctor Who, Victoriana or Steampunk game.

Oxidation Beast (Kevin Williams SKU:77032)

An homage to the bane of every paladin the classic Rust Monster.  A surprisingly rare miniature to find at the time of this kickstarter so this went straight to the top of the pile despite its late entry on this list.

Stone Golem (James Van Schaik SKU:77171)

There's a pseudo Egyptian feel about this miniature (it's the skirt!!) and so I had to paint it in a bronzed gold colour rather than the defacto stone that it's name suggests.  I half expect Indiana Jones to be facing up to this mechanical monstrosity in a future adventure.

Virina, Female Demon (Werner Klocke SKU:77067)

Another classic miniature with so many uses in so many genres.

I always struggle with painting red, either it doesn't cover properly or my highlights go all orangey.  This one turned out pretty good but the disaster of a matte coat has made this an arms length type of paint job.

Bones Progress

Reaper Bones: 245 - Painted: 49

Related Posts

Reaper Bones #1: The Marathon Begins - Where I paint a dozen Giant Rats.

Reaper Bones #2: Kobolds, Are They Dogs or Dragons? - Where I paint a dozen kobolds.

Reaper Bones #3: A Carcase of Skeletons - Where I paint a half dozen skeletons.

Reaper Bones #4: A Shuffle of Zombies - Where I paint five zombies.

Reaper Bones #5: Introducing Shaina Coppervein, Dwarven Orc Hunter - First PC mini.

Reaper Bones #6: Mimic, Treasure Chest and How I re-base my Bones - Where I paint furniture.

Reaper Bones #7: Fire Elemental Meets Novelty Lamp - Where I hack a mini with LEDs.

Reaper Bones #8: Flaming Sphere LED Tealight Hack - Another mini LED lighting project.

Reaper Bones #9: Elliwyn Heatherlark, Gnome Bard - Another PC mini.

Reaper Bones #10: Horace "Action" Jackson - A Baddass disco dancing Motherfucker.

Reaper Bones #11: Pirate Captain Thorin Stoneheart - A Swashbuckling Philanthropist.

Reaper Bones #12: Monstrous Menagerie - Clay Golem, Eye Beast, Griffon, Owlbear, Marsh Troll

Reaper Bones #13: Giants - Male Storm Giant and Female Cloud Giant

5 Free D&D Things I Bought on Wish.com - Part 1

Sometimes you do CRAZY things and today I ordered 5 random D&D things from Wish.com.

The Rules

Yes, there have to be rules, without rules there would be "Anarchy in your D&D".

1. I can only buy items which list for the search term "D&D"
2. I can only buy items with a list price of free, no limited availability items and shipping must cost no more than £3 per item.
3. I can only buy 1 item of a type, so no buying 5 different sets of dice.
4. No NSFW items please, we're British! 

Please wait 6 to 8 weeks for this post to conclude... 

Big Box Project - Part 2 - The Flap and Preparing to Stomp Bugs!

Work on my Mobile Painting Workstation continues

Installation of the Flap

The bottom section of the box is pretty innacessible and therfore lends itself to long term storage of the compressor, rotary sander, hot glue gun and other larger items such as brush boxes and palettes.  I also wanted a second shelf so the obvious answer is to make a flap.

Keeping the cost low, I used some sections of laminate flooring made from Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF).  This is good enough.

A little pull tab cut from an old lanyard was glued to the bottom of the flap with some 5 minute epoxy.

More Exterior Decor

As I mentioned in Part 1, Aliens Day is just around the corner (April 26th) and I wanted to get the iconic Bug Stomper noseart added to the rear of the box.  I found a suitable graphic but I didn't like the black centre so I fired up GIMP and removed it.  This is now my stencil.

The paint scheme of the UD-4L Cheyenne Dropship is a predictable military green.  However, you can't get a tester pots of emulsion in military green so I went for the nearest I could get, Wilko's Jungle Green Emulsion.

I didn't have a reference image to hand and this colour in hindsight is way too light but that can all be fixed later.

This was liberally applied to the back of the box in two coats.  Coverage was surprisingly good.  When I painted the sides of the box with automotive paint there was some kind of chemical reaction and it didn't want to stick to certain parts of the box.  No problems with the emulsion and it went on quickly.

Next job was to cut out the badge from the center of the paper giving me 2 masks.  One to paint the white circle backgound and one for the details inside the badge. 

Careful measuring and marking in pencil will ensure that the outer mask is aligned so that the hole is directly in the centre of the box.  I used some Repositionable Mounting Spray to affix the mask and the newspaper but you could use a gluestick at a push.

 This is then liberally coated in white spray paint,

Removing the mask and the newspaper leaves a neat white circle the exact same size as the badge.  Take more care than me when masking and you won't end up with annoying bits of overspray like me.  A quick touch up with some Jungle Green and all is well.

The it's time to add the noseart circle.  Same drill, spray on the adhesive and align with the white circle.

I'll be covering the hard part, cutting out all the different areas of colour, in the next gripping installment

Anarchy in Your D&D...

... and other popular types of government.

Anarchy - A society without a publicly enforced government or political authority.  This can be a natural, temporary result of civil war in a country, when an established state has been destroyed and the region is in a transitional period without definitive leadership.  

Fictional Example: Mad Max 2 (George Miller) - 1982 saw the return of Max Rockatansky and in the intervening years what was left of civilation has fully descended into anarchy.  What passes for government is either the gang rules of the Lord Humungus' Marauders or the commune style democracy led by Pappagallo. 

Max doesn't fit neatly into either of these camps and only agrees to fight alongside the travellers because his car is held hostage.  In the original script Pappagallo was the CEO of 7 Sisters Petroleum and  interestingly some of the marauders appear to be ex cops, although it is not explicitely referenced.

Autocracy - A system of government in which supreme power (social and political) is concentrated in the hands of one person or polity, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control.  Autocracy has a nasty habit of turning into a dictatorship without appropriate impartial oversight or scrutiny.  Revolution and assassination tends to be the only outcome for these leaders.

Fictional Example: Ankhmorpork Discworld (Terry Pratchett).  Despite the "sharing" of power with the Guilds, the city is governed through a system of one man, one vote - the Patrician being the "one man" in question.  The best portrayal of Lord Vetinari can be found in the Sky mini series "Going Postal".  Charles Dance's performance is a masterclass in veiled menace and manipulation of Machiavellian proportions.

Matriarchy - Not so much a form of Government but a is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property.

Fictional Example:  Memory of Earth (Orson Scott Card)  In the first book of the Homecoming Harmony series we are introduced to the matriarchal society of Basilica.  All property is owned by the women and many of them hold high ranking positions within the government and academia.   Despite this being OSC's "Book of Mormon" I am quite fond of the concept of the oversoul and how it controls what technology is allowed to be invented to essentially prevent the warlike tendencies of humanity.

Plutocracy - Rule by the wealthy; a system wherein governance is indebted to, dependent upon or heavily influenced by the desires of the rich. Arguably every government is financed by plutocrats, as the saying goes "He who has the money makes the rules".  When the rules are made by the rich, who do you think reaps the greatest benefit? Oh it's the rich, funny that...

Fictional Example:  Game of Thrones (George R R Martin)  Technically this is a feudal monarchy with the various lords of the Seven Kingdoms being appointed by ruling King.  The position of the King is largely decided by the person with the biggest standing army or banners pledged to their house.  Financing this support comes from key houses such as the Lannisters and the Tyrells in exchange for grace and favour. 

Unfortunately the War of the Five Kings leads to Tyrwin Lannister becoming massively indebted to the Iron Bank of Braavos and when that line of credit dries up Cersei must turn to Euron Greyjoy to help her in the final battle for the Iron Throne.  Once again the stand out performances always come from Charles Dance as he pulls the strings, until he gets ignominiously shot by his son Tyrion whilst on the toilet.

Stratocracy - Rule by military service; a system of governance composed of military government in which the state and the military are traditionally or constitutionally the same entity. Citizens with mandatory or voluntary active military service or who have been honorably discharged have the right to govern.  

Fictional Example: Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein).  "Service guarantees Citizenship" was the oft quoted line in the Mobile Infantry recruitment ads.  Johnny Rico's rich parents both want him to go to Harvard.  When they are both killed in the Buenos Aires meteor bombardment it only fuels Johnny's desire to do his bit for the war effort.

Technocracy - Rule by the educated or technical experts; a system of governance where people who are skilled or proficient govern in their respective areas of expertise in technology would be in control of all decision making.  In fantasy fiction Technology would of course be replaced by Magic. 

Fictional Example: The Rift War Saga (Raymond E Feist).  Whilst all Tsurani are governed by the Emperor along the lines of a Feudal system, the Assembly of Magicians stands apart from the law and no magician can be compelled by any non magician.

Which just leaves...

Idiocracy - When a US Army cryogenics experiment goes wrong Private Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) and Rita (Maya Rudolph) awake in a nightmare future. Americans have devolved into idiots ruled by an ex Wrestler President Camacho (Terry Crews) and they are the most intelligent people in society by default.  I just love the craziness of this movie.