Tuesday, August 19, 2014

The GenCon Haul

Getting back from GenCon late last night, and then having to trudge through the day of depression that is the first work day back from GenCon, I'm just now starting to reflect on the convention that was and organize the pictures that I took. Most are of Infinity, which completely ensnared me this year, and I'll post those tomorrow. In the meantime, here's what I picked up this year.


In no particular order, that's the newest expansion for Memoir '44; the new Infinity starter set and convention-exclusive figures; the new Malifaux book, arsenal decks, and Nightmare and Miss figures; the new 5th ed D&D books; some classic basic D&D adventures to add to my collection; the convention special Privateer Press figure; the Pathfinder card game Ranger class deck; and a few KR Multi-case figure cases.

For the first time in years I exhibited some degree of restraint in the dealer hall, only picking up figures for the two games I am actively playing (Infinity and Malifaux), or hope to play again soon (D&D of any sort and the Pathfinder card game).  Enticing new games were passed by (sorry Dropzone Commander, Shadowrun Crossfire, and 13th Age), as were miniatures games for which I already have a few figures still languishing, unassembled and unpainted, in blister (sorry Bushido and Dark Age), or which I have tried, repeatedly, to get off the ground with local friends (sorry Heavy Gear).

The purchase I'm possibly most giddy about were the KR cases though.  I've eyed them for a while and had determined to pick up a pair once I got back from the convention after seeing the jumbled mess my recent move made of my figures.  Lo and behold the Warstore had them for sale at GenCon though, and for an absolute song of a price, so I walked out with three of them.  Given the other fun toys I picked up, it seems a bit silly to admit how much I'm looking forward to transferring my painted stuff over to their new homes.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Awakened from a Millennia of Slumber

Perhaps it's only been four months, but that might as well be a millennia in the blogging world and it was an appropriate title for these servants of the Great Old One, Cthulhu.

Obligatory crappy cellphone picture
These figures, from the RAFM Miniatures Call of Cthulhu line, were painted as part of the demo force for a friend's new game system, premiering in beta form at this year's GenCon later this week.  I'll hopefully have more to say about that system in the near future.

I'll be honest, I was unaware that RAFM even still existed until these figures were sent to me to paint.  In the late 90s I loved the company, primarily because they produced the first run of Heavy Gear figures, and even carried my keys on a keychain with a massive metal RAFM-logo fob hanging from it.  Since then they seemed to pretty much disappear from the radar, or at least my radar, so I was shocked to see a catalog full of some great old, as well as really slick new, sculpts.  Nearly universally they're all pretty simple, clean sculpts, like these fishmen here, unadorned with layers of fiddly bits.  While I love me some fiddly bits on figures, these were an absolute blast to paint.  If you're interested check out RAFM here.