The Mike Lung Gallery #91 - Casually Playing Fishing28

Back in November I finally discovered Fishing28, a set of rules for one man, a sea of fish, and a fight against nature. While I kept my games light-hearted, with a single Hawaiian gnome and a spear, taking his raft out to harvest Swedish Fish, I have found numerous blogs and posts from people custom making boats and fisherman for a high quality game. 

If I didn't expect friend of the blog and Award-Winning GM Mike Lung to fall in that latter category, I would have never mentioned it in pre-game during our Monday night Gamma World online game. 

First was a simple conversion, an extra German Peasant figure from Gnome Wars into a simple fisherman: 

And it has transformed into an entire world, complete with custom fish and the optional rules for rocks, birds, and predator fish. 

A good haul.... 

The Sea Monster 

I know he's gone done the rabbit whole (or frog hollow) when he sent me a second fisherman, customized from a Eureka figure: 

It's also a sign of a such a good but basic system, that, despite having such fabulous figures, his fisherman still drifted into the rocks, losing everything.   Let's hope that doesn't happen too often. 

(Kickstarter) Pug Town - 28mm Fantasy Grumble Knights STL Files by Trench Coat Miniatures

 As often as the seasons change, I complain about the glut of STL files dominating Kickstarter.  I know too many folks with a hard drive or Drop Box full of RPG PDFS.  Outside of one or two folks who are prolific with their 3-D printing, the STL community each has the same situation, but still need another step to make things useful, and let's not talk about when they're actually getting around to painting them.

I would be remiss, though, if I at least didn't mention the amusing Pug Town - 28mm Fantasy Grumble Knights by Trench Coat Miniatures.

And I can't be a grumpy old man with such minis, if a physical option is available for $40.00

New Finds at the Dollar Store

It's been awhile since I drop by one of my many local Dollar Tree. I avoided the temptation of mass-produced Easter candy, but did find some awesome finds in the adjacent 

I did find two new houses for the gnome village, that I hadn't seen on the shelves.  The purple one is from the Garden Fairy Spring Mushroom house line, the white and blue from the Garden Fairy Spring Flower house line.  I am starting to get picky with these ones ,because a number of them have doors that are simply too small, even for the mouslings I play with.  

The find I'm really excited about are the Easter erasers of rabbits.  Eight sturdy rubber rabbits for $1.25?   I picked up 24 rabbits without blinking.  They're definitely making an appearance for the Easter game this year.  The only drawback I'm seeing is that they're erasers, and pretty effective ones.  They are picking up marks already, so I'll experiment with sealant once I figure out how to mount them.  

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2024 - Tiny Fables

Tiny Fables is an oversized zine of 60 pages of sandbox style adventure for the Mausritter rules, but easily usable for any small anthropomorphic animal RPG you can see fit.

(Kickstarter) Waddlings Season 1 by Epics 'N' Stuffs

There are signals that I'm becoming the last man under 50 without a 3-D printer, but I will still only look at Kickstarters for .STL files if they offer a physical reward.  Waddlings Season 1 by Epics 'N' Stuffs not only provides those options, but they're all freakin' adorable penguins

Alas, the major drawback of my affinity to physical product in the campaign is shipping cost and time... from my old nemesis, the UK.  Between the cost difference and production/delivery time between the modes, I may bite the bullet and provide the files to a friend with a printer.  

Cold Wars 2023 Gnome-Related Action

As I wrote in my full Cold Wars AAR,  with the Western table, the gnomes took a bit of a backseat to the host of anthropomorphic cowboy minis available from a host of companies.  

Hog Hollow

With most games having each player running only 4-6 figures, the Gnome Wars rules were put aside for Fistful of Lead Western Rules.  Fistful does adhere to the Gnome Wars philosophy of "You should know most of the rules by the end of the third turn."

A lot of the game was searching houses for the missing payroll, an ill-timed encounter with killer cacti, and everyone fighting off the Sheriff. 

This member of the Hog Hollow Boys did not know how to load his weapon.  Every attack resulted in an out of ammo result, including after spending an entire turn reloading.  He was hiding and reloading, as his fellow gang members were getting gunned down.

The cavalry finally arrived after it was all too late, perhaps because they were missing a vital accessory that makes them cavalry.

We broke out more gnomes for the other games over the weekend.  My Imperial Republican Guard of California filled in nicely for Mexican Federales, and by request, the Mormons made another appearance. 

The true villains of games 2 and 3 were the Germans... something about going to the telegraphic office, and some person named Zimmerman.  They never got around to it, as the German officer angered the sheriff instantly, and he was force to steal a stage coach.

He left his men to fend off the infamous "Three Lone Rangers", but a row of Germans with aimed rifles are superior to gnomes that want to quick draw.

In the third game, the Mexican locals needed to evict the Germans, who had claimed their village as a fort.  

 

The final event for the table "Just Not the Slowest," was run using Gnome Wars and the full catalog of figures.

The town of Hogs Hollow wanted a military parade, and invited all nationalities to attend. 

Including a mistaken invitation to the Cult of Urinitas, and you know what those guys did to the fountain...

It's been awhile since a full-scale Znombie Incursion occurred, and without the help of the Jackalope herd, all may have been lost!

Znombies and Skeletons?  Come on!

The Skeleton Warriors of Hog Hollow assault the Sikh tank

The Scots escorting a tanker truck to the train station.  They claim that it was "milk" but I highly doubt it.

(Kickstarter) The Village of Omelette - A DuckQuest Adventure #ZineQuest5

In the waning days of #Zinequest, another hero appears.  The Village of Omelette is an adventure zine for DuckQuest. 

Yes, that's right.  DuckQuest... and Omelette.

Full disclosure:  I pledged on last year's The Banshee of Billfort, they delivered the pdf, and I have zero recollection of actually looking at it.   I'll have to take a peek in my computer and email to see if I have the file or link to it.  Regardless, I'm pledging.

(Kickstarter) Frog Knights - 28mm Miniatures by Tom Mason

A quick little Kickstarter for us anthropomorphic amphibian fans, Frog Knights by Tom Mason.  

Three types of figures, all cast in metal, starting at six Tadpolemen for $25.

Interloper Miniatures

Another recommendation that came into my e-mail is that of Interloper Miniatures.  They have fantastic figures for Gamma World (Chickens, and Lizards, and Bugs, oh my!) plus a fun assortment of some recognizable figures below.

The first big issue is that they don't have a storefront, so orders are coordinated through the "Contact" button for individual orders.  

The second big issue is time, as in, it's been a year since the last blog entry, so I'm trying to not think the worse, but, you.know....

The Four-Armed Santa wishes you the best of Yule.

(Kickstarter) Burrows & Badgers: The Streets of New Castle by Oathsworn Miniatures

 The good folks over at Oathsworn Miniatures have another 23 figures ready for their Burrows & Badgers line: The Streets of New Castle Kickstarter.

Some of these Reaper Stretch Goals Really Bug Me

After the initial flurry of add-ons and stretch goals, the Reaper Bones 6 Kickstarter has slowed down to a steady series of reveals for the next few weeks.

Most of the stretch goals will hit their target demographic like an ICBM, but they don't really do much for me.  

Then Part 3 of 5 of the Briarwood Vale Expansion was revealed.

The beefolk are adorable, and definitely a challenge to paint.

The Murder Hornet, though.... OMG.

Two lazy questions I can easily find the answers to.  (1) What is the size of the Murder Hornet mini and (2) can I easily paint it up like an Eastern Cicada Killer for some proper entomological subterfuge?    

(Painting) Mystery 15mm Mouse

Rebooting my painting queue continues to move slowly.  There area handful of projects seeing progress, a formal announcement regarding my pulp campaign coming shortly, and one tiny figure finally completed. 

I honestly don't know where this 15mm mouse guy came from.  It might have been from an HMGS convention paint and take, it might have come from a flea market, it may have been a weird Kickstarter free stretch goal.  It's sculpt and slotted base mean it's not from Splintered Light's line, it's not Battle Valor, and there's nothing similar to it on Old School Miniatures website.  It's an odd and adorable enigma.  Any help identifying this figure would be appreciated.

Still not sure how I feel about 15mm Fantasy.  It's been nice to gather my painting senses, purge some brushes and paints that were bad and get something off the pile, but I don't think it's for me.  I will say that I'm still on the fence about whether of not I should have bit the bullet and invested in 15mm Sci-Fi back in the day.  

The mystery mouse with a Battle Valor Hellion (r) and Mounted Wizard, both 15mm

PROJECT: 350 -  Considering I was in the 490s this time last year, and the 520s in the early days of COVID, I should be satisfied staying at 457 (303/154) from 457 (305/152) a week ago.  While I did start to catch up with my Star War d6 campaign's backlog, every episode I finish isn't scheduled to post until October, plus I've been forced to split episodes up for continuity sake.  I still have seven episodes to write up, and if I can play a game, or finish painting project, I might go below 300 drafts for the first time since 2018.

Next: An update on the progress for Season 4 of the Pulp Campaign first, but a certain windfall has thrown off the painting queue even more... and it's Gnomish Space Marine related.

(Kickstarter) The Silver Feather Adventure Guild - 28mm Ducks!

#ZineMonth2022 was going to fill a void of gaming purchases since last fall.  I just didn't expect the other gaming items to quickly follow suit. 

There's a special, odd, little place in the hearts of the Stout Gnomes for Ducks figures, and not all of it is Runequest based.  This makes  The Silver Feather Adventure Guild Kickstarter a must have in my household, even if AAU payments are due for the girl.   Ducks in 28mm for everyone!

The best part?  I don't have to give up my personal ban on UK Kickstarters, as the producer appears to be in, and shipping from Sweden.  

(Kickstarter) Iconic Races II - Catfolk by Kobold Press

Somehow I missed that not only does Kobold Press have its own miniature line, but their reasonably affordable and they love anthropomorphic characters?

The latest addition to their Bestiary Miniatures is Iconic Race II Catfolk on Kickstarter. in both plastic and metal!

No only are the cat-folk in cool Thundercats vibe, but the Kickstarter allows for add-ons from previous releases, including Bearfolk and a pretty sweet turtle.  The big thing that has my interest piqued is a stretch goal for Keg Golems.  I thought that was just a joke.  I was sorely mistaken.  

The Mike Lung Gallery #83 - Some Gnomerdammerung Figures

Still nothing off the painting bench... yet.  Basketball is going into a crazy weekend mixed with AAU tryouts. More details on the eventual weekly basketball update, but for now, I'm relishing in new 24" dual monitors for my home office, and the a few moments of calm to review my e-mails and rediscover one I received from friend of the blog, Award Winning GM Mike Lung.  

He was clearing off his painting table of some smaller projects including figures for his Gnomerdammerung "Twilight of the Gnomes" campaign.  

I just finished off a Brigade Gnome Swiss gnome conversion into a warrior. Nothing to over the top. But I want to show you how they match up to other anthro figs. So in the attached picture you can see the following:

(L to R) 

Oathsworn Hound knight
Darksword Hound knight
Essex Fantasy guard (I added the beard and gave him the pointy helmet). Otherwise I think he makes a perfect gnome
Brigade Games Swiss Gnome
Darksword Hare

As this is as close to my Friday painting post as I've gotten in a month, let's cover a few things that are normally covered on these posts.

PROJECT: 350 - With all the blog craziness with the #CharacterCreationChallenge and #ZineMonth2022, I've managed to keep steady with a backlog of 475 (311 drafts/164 scheduled)  almost identical to a month ago's  475 (315 drafts/160 scheduled).  I'm really hoping I'm not drawn into another hashtag project that takes up my hobby time.

Next:  The Book of Boba Fett has inspired me to put together some homemade terrain, and perhaps some interesting characters

(Kickstarter) Things That Go Squeak in the Night RPG by Gallant Knight Games

Things That Go Squeak in the Night is a rules-light tabletop role-playing game where you play heroic mice saving human children from evil faeries and demons, all while keeping yourselves secret from adults, in a contemporary urban fantasy setting.

Pledge levels are $10 for the pdf, $15 for print on demand, and $25 for the offset published book.

(Kickstarter) Wasteland Pugs & The Glory Hogs Go Metal! by Old School Miniatures

For those of you with Post-Apocalyptic aspirations more After the Bomb and Gamma World than Morrow project, I present the Kickstarter for Wasteland Pugs & The Glory Hogs Go Metal! by Jamie Loft and Old School Miniatures

I've seen characters like Karl Barx and Moby Richard, but not in this adorable and fun.

When You Need a Background For Your Anthropomorphic Animal RPG

(Kickstarter) Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse: Beyond Thunder City by Derek Kamal

 When I returned from my business trip and looked to see what Kickstarters I missed, I did not expect to see a supplement for Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse.

Beyond Thunder City is an anthology of settings from the game, by Derek Kamal.  

(Kickstarter) Wyrdworld ReCreated - 28mm Anthro Fantasy Miniatures by Fenris Games

 Fenris Games has recently launched a Kickstarter for their Wyrdworld Recreated - a collection of 28mm Anthropomorphic Fantasy Minis in resin.

The cheapness in me cringes at US$10 for a single figure, like Peri below, but the larger pledge levels make the per figure cost palatable. 

Unfortunately, I'm done with UK shipping for some time (cost, not speed of shipment), so I'll regrettably pass on this one.