Father's Day Gifts for the D&D Dad

Father's Day is on Sunday 21st June 2020 which is only 10 days away but there is still time to get that special something for your D&D Dad.

Here are 9 special gift ideas you can buy on Amazon.

Under £10 A Dice Rolling Tray Frankly I think these are an essential accessory to keep your dice rolling under control.  I have one of these and it folds flat for easy storage and carriage.  The larger size is especially welcome when you are rolling a fistfull of those damage dice.
A New Set of Dice It doesn't matter how many dice us D&D Dads have we can always do with some more.  I particularly like the wild colours on this set which make it look like they are on fire with magical flames. Which is basically how I roll...
A New Notebook Every Dungeon Dad needs a new notebook so he can fill it with campaign ideas or adventure journal entries.
£10 to £20 A New T-Shirt What better way for your Dad to say it loud and proud with a classy new T-Shirt.  I particularly like the Dragon's head artwork on this one and lets face it Dragons are always found at the heart of a Dungeon which is right where this gift will get your Dad.
A New Pint Glass What better way for your Dad to celebrate a particularly fraught campaign but to toast to fallen heroes from the skulls of their enemy. Also a great icebreaker at BBQs. "Could you bring me a drink in the head of Alfredo Garcia darling?"
An Area of Effect Template This is one of the best I've seen yet.  Made of transparent acrylic with clear marked areas of effect for all the popular spells. With this your Dad can finally end the argument of exactly who is getting hit by his fireball. I particularly like the additional random direction feature on the outer ring because there are just those times when a spell bounces and you don't want it to come towards you.
Over £20 A Big 3 Level Pirate Ship I was gobsmacked when I saw this.  I have been running games for over 35 years and have never found anything quite as practical as this 3 level pirate ship.  Made from laser cut plywood this is the perfect accessory for the Dungeon Dad who likes to make his players walk the plank.  It also doubles as an impressive display stand for the man cave. I'm just hoping that my step daughter sees this page and buys me one... fingers crossed.
Acrylic Condition Rings 72 Piece Set If your Dad is a dungeon master he has probably encountered this problem on many an occasion.  How to track the various states that your PCs and Monsters can get themselves into during the course of a frenetic xombat. Look no further because this set of clear acrylic condition rings puts an end to all that.  Colour coded for every one of 18 different combat conditions (4 rings of each type), these rings will help your dearest dad keep up with the upkeep of even the biggest skirmishes.
A Dice Tower Sometimes your Dad needs all the help he can get and that means taking the human element out of rolling those pesky polyhedrons. This is one of the tallest towers on the market and will cast an impressive shadow on everyone around the table.  It is made of cool blue transparent acrylic and is sure to mesmerise and randomise to equal effect.

Priceless

What every dad really wants is to spend some quality time with their kids.  So why not sit your dad down at the table and ask him to play a game.  He'll have memories of that special father's day forever.

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Jessie's Prints Episode 10 - Soda Bottle Stacking Planters

This week, I are mostly been printing...

Soda Bottle Stacking Planters - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4437199

Living in an apartment I have very limited garden space, basically it is my kitchen window ledge.  I was challenged by my 80 year old Dad (who has an alllotment channel on YouTube) to start growing some microgreens.

I used to have a ramshackle mix of pots and planters which did not take advantage of the one thing I do have which is ample amounts of vertical space and a chance encounter with an image on Pinterest made me think "I can do that with my printer". 

Minutes later, the Soda Bottle Stacking Planter was born.

Soda Bottle Stacking Planter

Just print twice, glue the halves together and combine with your favourite 2 Litre bottle of soda.

"But this is a gaming blog! What the heck has this to do with gaming?" I hear you say. 

Well this is a perfect example of a crossover print.  With the addition of this ladder from Thingiverse designer Cheng Huat Wan it becomes a multi-purpose Bulk Liquid Storage Tank for use in all your Sci-Fi miniature wargames and RPGs.

I know that I'll be using mine in my Gaslands and Judge Dredd RPG games.

Bulk Liquid Storage Tank

Sci-Fi Bulk Liquid Storage Tank

 

Arena - Futuristic Boxing in Space

Browsing through YouTube can be a dangerous game, particularly when you find a trove of old Sci-Fi and Fantasy B Movies

Arena (1989)

I distinctly remember the cover of this B-movie budget space Rocky calling to me from the shelves of Blockbuster video back in the day.  It wasn't a contender for my attention then, but in the middle of the COVID-19 lockdown, frankly I can't think of any good excuse to not watch it.

The story is a simple one our hero Steve Armstrong, (Paul Satterfield) is a young kid with a talent for boxing had dreams of becoming a professional fighter and bought a one way ticket to starstation the home of the biggest fights in the Galaxy, The Arena.  A year later his dream is shattered and he spends his days as a short order cook in a fast food joint run by his boss the four armed alien Shorty (Hamilton Camp).

A chance brawl with a customer turns into a job offer from promoter Quinn (Claudia Christian) and a trial in the Arena.  However, Steve is the only human in 50 years to fight in the Arena against aliens and he is hopelessly outmatched.  Can he face impossible odds and become a contender?

Aliens, so many Aliens

The budget on this movie was pretty slim but they spent it wisely on a cavalcade of monster makeup.  It makes the cantena scene in Star Wars look like 2 men and a dog.  There is so much variety it really makes you feel like the Galaxy is teeming with alien species of all shapes and sizes.

The downside of this is of course that they spent all the money on monster makeup and next to nothing on writers, special effects, models etc.  The list goes on. 

The Director in me says "what the hell if I'm making Rocky in Space how much script do I need and this is pretty much what director Peter Manoogian must have though too.  He does his best and to be honest there are some great moments, in particular when they do an inventive visual gag based on Shorty's four arms.

Claudia Christian (Ivanova in Bablylon 5) is her usual classy self and Armin Shimerman (Quark in DS9) also does a respectable turn as the henchman Weezil who is aided in his master plan by the duplicitous alien cyborg skull (William Butler).  It's worth sticking this one out to see what happens to this guy.

It was Acceptable in the 80s

To be honest this wasn't as bad as the terrible video cover art had me believe.  The only truly excrutiating part was having to listen to the truly awful songs of futuristic cabaret star Jade (Shari Shattuck).  It's a relatively engaging story if a little cliched as we follow Steve's career reach its climax with the big fight against six time champion Horn (Michael Deak), a drug fuelled half robot half horned devil beast.

Give it a go, there are honestly worse things you can with 90 minutes of your life.

Reaper Bones #20 - Devil Women

In the 80s, Sir Cliff Richard sang:

"She's just a devil woman, With evil on her mind..."

and these two Hellborn beauties are not the sorts of ladies you might take home to meet your mum.

Tiviel, Hellborn Rogue (Derek Schubert SKU: 77118)

Triviel, Hellborn Rogue - Buy it on eBay

Sinessa, Hellborn Sorceress (Bob Ridolfi SKU: 77119)

Sinessa, Hellborn Sorceress - Buy it on eBay

Bones Progress

Reaper Bones: 245 - Painted: 69

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.
• Reaper Bones #15 - The Road Warrior - Mad Max - 50 bones painted at last.
• Reaper Bones #16 - A Patrol of Orcs - 5 orcs out hunting your party.
• Reaper Bones #17- Personalities - Player Characters, NPCs or a villain or two.
• Reaper Bones #18 - Furniture
• Reaper Bones #19 - Townsfolk 

Vintage Vampire - Citadel C18 Night Horrors

I've had this mini hiding in an old tin in shame for years. 

Citadel C18 Night Horrors Vampire

The original paintjob was a horrible early experiment using artists inks.  I had given him a wash of blue ink over a white primer basecoat.  He was more Blue Man Group than Bela Lugosi and so it was time this scary dude got a spooky repaint.

Buy it on eBay

The repaint was an experiment in glazing over a zenithal highlight with a single colour.  In my case this was Vallejo Game Colour Dark Green and I reinforced the highlights by mixing in some Vallejo Game Colour Dead White.  I picked out his eyes in Vallejo Game Air Scarlett Red and stuck a pin in him, he's done.

Like all of my recently painted minis this one got a protective coat of Windsor & Newton Matte Varnish from the airbrush thinned down with Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver.

The C18 Night Horrors range is a particularly interesting series of minis and no doubt was designed to accompany the Gothic Horror Floorplans and GW licensed edition of Call of Cthulhu which were released about the same time. 

They were excellent value as you got 5 "classic horror" minis in a blister pack for only £2.50 which if GW used the Bank of Englands inflation calculator would be under £10 in today's money.  Well I guess it's true what they say...

"There are only two certainties in life.  Death and Games Workshop price gouging!!"