(Painting) The Gingerbread Legion

 So I made a gingerbread army...

No sculpting (a small bit a modelling clay), and I spent almost as much time with clay as I did with cutting off strings with an x-acto knife.  

They are Christmas ornaments from Hobby Lobby. Gingerbread men that come 12 to a pack.  Five packs at just under four dollars a pop, on discount, and this is a sizable unit for any battlefield. 

I cut off the gold strings that ran through their foreheads, fill up the holes with some dollar-store modelling clay that dried quickly. (This is why some of the traditional gingerbread men might have some bulbous foreheads.  A little Zap-a-Gap on the bases, and I actually made a dent in the winter flocking I owned.  

I also knocked out 21 of the Christmas trees, acquired over the years from a variety of sources, namely Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby.    Some of the other trees I've acquired already have white bases, but he latest have had plain wooden circular bases.  A little white paint and a little snow flock and the true Grognards at Fall-In! will only pish-posh and harrumph me for my game, not my trees.

Everything makes their debut at Fall-In! 2026 tomorrow at 2pm.  Lampeter Room, Table 13.  

Next: By the Fall-In! 2026 AAR on Monday, I might need to completely reorganize everything on my painting bench as I reprioritize my projects.  Let's wait and see!

Project 350:  Just a simple case of working on project for the con and letting the pre-written scheduled posts do the job.  We're at 467 (307 blog draft / 160 pre-schedule posts), down from from 469 (308/161) last week.  With so much backlog, I usually plug in "index:460 or index:450 to pass through much of it and see what I should be working on currently.  After work on holiday games and #CharacterCreationChallenge posts, we might not be able to use "index:460" and I'll finally be under 300 drafts for the first time since forever.

(Painting) D&D Yeti Tykes by WizKids

Looking back at last years purchases, I really didn't buy that many minis, the only true practical ones were the Outrigger Canoes from Diabolical Terrain, with the variety of Reaper Bones and 3-D prints reaching  the 'Someday, maybe" category. The one true purchase that in the "complete whimsy" were the blister of D&D Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures: Yeti Tykes I grabbed from Cloud City Games in the Palmer Mall.

... and now they're going to be the bulk of a faction on the Fistful of Christmas game I'm running at Fall-In! 2026 next Saturday.  

I'm a curmudgeonly old Grognard, so I don't have a high opinion of most WizKids minis.  The level of detail in the digital rendering was non-existent after the casting process, plus a single base coat.  Perhaps they're perfect for some splash and dash contrast paints,  but even if they're not,  they are fun little minis, perfect for a family friendly winter game.

Next: The buildings might get done for the con, I do realize I've acquired a number trees that need a decent flocking, and then we'll see if the whims of the November convention season guide me in a different direction.  Just that single Mousling game we played has got me looking through the bag-o-mice... 

Project 350:  Finally, the decline I needed to claim!  I'm hacking away at the draft posts, dropping the backlog/library to 469 (308 drafts /161 scheduled), from  473 (312/161) .  For each item I've scheduled that's posting, I'm adding another, slowing working on some of the #CharacterCreationChallenge for January 2027.  Usually I don't have concepts for the entire month even in placeholder mold, much less flesh out characters ready to go, but I made some headway last weekend.  Whether it's new concepts for Nations and Cannons, post-funnel character for Mutant Crawl Classics, or a fun little concept of characters for the "Hallmark Channel RPG Setting, I may be enjoying myself early.

(Painting) Minor Terrain Miscellany

 Still clearing off the painting bench of random stuff, while still working on the last few pieces for my Fall-In! game.

Just one and a half pieces, a sphinx statue to add to my pile of Egypt terrain and accessories:

And a random piece of a Windsword Accessories model, but I certainly don't have any more from them.  With the random looking pock marks, it was time to paint it up for some weird science/mythos corner piece. 

I am a little disheartened by the disappearance of Windsword's website, but hope they'll be at the con, as always, this November. 

I also continued on my projects for my Fall-In! game, finishing up some new trees for the board.  I'm planning one last trip to Hobby Lobby, probably this weekend.  I also realized I can no longer count.  My big surprise for the gang, set to be revealed?  I didn't finish 50 of them... I found a straggler under the painting bench, and realized I had finished the other 59.  

Next: Holiday (or snow) related stuff for my Fall-In! game, then some ultra-rare gnomes, and maybe a few guys... just for fun.    (310/163) 

Project 350:  Somehow in a month that normally spits out post after post, the backlog went up to 473 (312/161)   from  470 (313/157) at the start of the month.

I Can't Blame the Ukrainians For This Part

Over the weekend, there were reports of Ukraine using drone attacks on Yandex, causing a massive reduction in bot traffic across the internet.  While many credited the attack in silencing a number of right wing bot accounts, it's much more a small result of reduced overall automated traffic worldwide, good and bad.  

As I checked the blog earlier this week, I anticipated a drop in front page traffic, maybe a few declines in posts that just caught the  both algorithm somehow.  

I opened up to 100,000 hits... for the day.  More disappointing was that the repeated traffic was actually hitting newer posts from October.   Two day old posts that get 50 posts had 500... and growing.  

It appears there was a noon barrage, then a smaller 10k hit the following day, and a random influx of 800 views exactly at 4pm yesterday, inflating that day's Gamma World post to twice the traffic I would expect. 

And the true irony?  None of my traffic originated from Russia... allegedly. 

It's disheartening, I love to track my traffic, and now there's six posts that could easily crack last year's top 3... and no way to correct the current numbers, or anticipate what's going to happen in the future.  

I soldier on, with plenty of projects for the November conventions, to document. 

(Edit: And as I finished up this post last night, my phone apparently kicked the bucket.  When it rains, it pours.)

The RPG Playstyles Survey by Questing Beast

Proper shout-out to Stargazer's World for mentioning this. 

To quote the blog directly: 

"Ben Milton—creator of the YouTube channel Questing Beast and the tabletop games Maze Rats and Knave—is currently running an RPG Playstyles Survey."

I love me some gaming surveys, of any kind, and while this one feels a bit OG D&D and OSR focused, I put more than my two cents in when I could.    Following Stargazer's explanation, the larger base a survey has, the better we and analyze and cluster the data. 

ViscountEric's Hottest Flashback Posts for 2025-26

I know I'm the only one that cares about blog stats, but I do love tracking stuff, not only the popular current posts, but also the older ones that still have traction.

**Disclaimer:  Year over year, the bot traffic is evolving from hitting the front page of the blog, to finally hitting more and more individual posts.  Like a lot of the blogs are mentioning, I had over three MILLION hits for the year, and most... are still the front page hits.**

2024-2025

My reviews of game stores like Lazarus Games, The Adventurer's Academy, IGAR, and Mythic Beasts and Brews dominate, plus my paint job on the Dollar General Mummies.

2023-2024

The Games Keep in West Chester and a random Space Dwarf Biker Gang Kickstarter pulled in the most traffic this past year.  Games Keep definitely get bot traffic plus a healthy dose of defenders of the shop from my opinion.

2022-2023 

The game store reviews continue to pull views for Sword in the Stone, Alchemist's Lair (Schuylkill Haven), with Dragon's Den in Honesdale getting a ton of traffic, with the sad little post about my divorce and losing a job rounding out the top picks.

2020-2022

International Gnome Week continues to gain traction based on my original post.  The year with two Historicons (November '21 and July '22 technically). 

I'm still not sure what bot or algorithm picked up on it, but a fairly mid rant about original  Fluxx and Unstable Unicorns being the optimal version their games has garnered enough traffic to become my most popular post... of all time!  The Navuoo Legion (aka The Mormons in the HMGS Gnome Wars games) remains popular, as well as a fluff piece about Gnomes and Fungus.  

Finally, Fourteen Beers at Chili's from my Call of Cthulhu "Curse of Nevoz" game, and a surprising blast from the past "My Paint Scheme for My Marines" seemed to draw in views organically.

2009-2019

These older posts reinforce what I see year-over-year:  Reviews seem to keep things alive.   I also saw a huge uptick in my Ballad of the Pigeon God AD&D campaign, as well as my run of Masks of Nylarathotep.  I was also amsued to find that my main posting about Samoan Riflemen for my Second Samoan Civil War game cracked the Top 20 in its year. 

The biggest gains in this era were for my Texas Roadhouse Massacre Risus-Illuminati University (IOU) game.  This actual play netted the #3 all-time spot, just beating out the Games Keep.

My Top 10 Popular Posts of the Past Year, Beyond the Last Year

1. Fluxx and Unicorns                                 - Rant
2. (Risus) Texas Roadhouse Massacre        - IOU
3. Hellboy Board Game                              - Kickstarter
4. The Games Keep, West Chester             - Reviews          - 2024
5. Dragon's Den Games, Honesdale           - Reviews
6. Tales from the Loop: The Board Game  - Kickstarter
7. Gnome Wars, 2nd Edition                      - Reviews
8. Gnome Vs Dragon Lawn Ornaments    - Gnome News
9. Space Dwarf Biker Gang 2                    - Kickstarter
10. Miniature Building Authority Castle Ex - Kickstarter

My Top 10 Popular Posts of All Time 

1. Fluxx and Unicorns                                                       - Rant
2. Hunting for Wizard of Oz Minis                                   - Wizard of Oz
3. (Risus) Texas Roadhouse Massacre                              - IOU
4. (Review) The Games Keep - West Chester                   - Reviews
5. (Kickstarter) Hellboy: The Board Game Expansions    - Kickstarter
6. Contemptible Little Armies Review                              - Reviews
7. Settlers of Catan 15th Anniversary Edition                   - Retail 
8. Wardlings, Toy Aliens, and Post-Gymnastics Universe - Rant
9. Eureka Minis Release Mice Warriors                            - Mouslings
10. (Kickstarter) Tales from the Loop: The Board Game    - Kickstarter

(Painting) Outrigger Canoes by Diabolical Terrain

I did complete my first unit Hawaiian Gnomes (The Polygnomials) less than a year ago.  They have proven to be a fun nationality, and most of the rules tweaks involve some procedural options with the Spearmen and the making the Pineapple Catapult somewhere that's not useless but not terrorizing the board.  

As we figured out early at Historicon, the Hawaiians needed to accessorize, and I found two items that work well, adding some lore to Hawaiian lore.

First off, the most obvious choice, outrigger canoes from Diabolical Terrain.  Your might want to try the larger 30mm scale, but with the 25mm canoes, your definitely need five of them to traverse the sea and conquer the surrounding islands.  

EC3D-DY: Dugout Outrigger

During the summer closeouts at the Dollar Tree, I picked up some "Candy Holders," clear red plastic in the shape of pineapples.  In my two lines of thinking, I painted half up as giant pineapples, and the other four as carved pineapple rocks, perfect for a fire inside the crown.  

The final item to complete the Hawaiian "base?"   A small ziggurat structure, perhaps one level, that would be perfect for a the pineapple sculptures and perhaps an appropriate altar? I will have time to scour the dealer's hall and flea market sessions this year. 

Next Up:  I do have a massive project with sixty (60!) figures that I'm already in the midst of, for Fall-In!  I might have even more, but the first sixty should be enough.  After that, there's nothing specific on the painting bench, so I might wander between Gnomish Space Marine stuff, and more of the 3-D fantasy stuff I picked up at Historicon.

Project 350:  We just mentioned this yesterday, but we're at  470 (313/157) from 471 (313/158).  October is NOT as pre-packed full of posts as prior years, so I don't see perhaps a handful of games plus working on the placeholders for the #CharacterCreationChallenge in January.

My Gaming Plans for 2026-27

Another year, another 20% of plans actually achieving. 

To be honest, I hit six out of seven (83%) of the core goals last year, with close to zero success from the pie-in-the-sky projects. 

Keeping it real, like last year, I need to recognize two big things: 

• The era is ending.....  Maja driving has given her freedom, and has resulted in less time both girls have with dear old dad.   And to make matters worse, the whole boyfriend thing is a whole lot more serious than the last foray, and I foresee her coming down for Historicon only (He is a gamer, so there is still a chance...)  Millie can still get excited from games, but she's definitely an engaged casual player.
• Enjoy what everyone enjoys:  Essentially copying word-for-word from last year.  I enjoy all the online community projects and there are certain things I'll do, even if no one else ever reads them, no matter how foolish.  The biggest posts of the year for me are (1) convention AARs, (2) game store reviews, (3) Pulp Game AARs, and (4) my painting.  I'm not monetizing the blog, but engagement matters, both practically, and selfishly.

With my "Mission Statement" out of the way, let's get into my plans, from immediate projects to fewer pipe dreams.

1. The last guaranteed Historicon with Maja - Maja will have graduated high school, weeks away from attending college, probably somewhere in New York State.  Although she'll try, Historicon 2027 might be the last be hurrah for Maja... or maybe not.  She's basically independent of us outside of Next Gen activities, so like this past year, I'm going to enjoy it.
2. Death Planet Iota Ongoing -  My Fistful of Lead sci-fi campaign using anything and everything I can get my hands on.  This includes painting up anymore figures, vehicles, and scenery. 
3. Mousling Fantasy, Take Three - Still tinkering, using the mouslings, fantasy figures in general.   System still seems to elude me.  
4. Pulp! - I'd like to finish Tomb of the Serpent with the girls, or just solo.  
5. Gamma World Alternatives -What started as joke that worried all my players, we do need an alternative or low attendance friendly game for Monday nights.  Something like Nations and Cannons is great, but with a group of history freaks, that might require more GMing output than I'm ready for.   
6. Painting - Yet another reorganization of the queue, and restock, replenish, and retool my paint shelves for colors I need to replace.   Gotta find a project after all the Death Planet Iota gets finished… Who am I kidding… I just found another bag of West End Games Star Wars figures last night. 

And the pipe dreams:

    7.  Toon - "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Kodos"  After years of running the "Cthulhu Comes to Springfield" Toon game, and dusting it off for Mepacon 50, I had been tempted to run a Simpsons game of "episodes" that fit the con's alien theme, but withdrew.  It might still be a thing for Mepacon 52 in April.

    8.  What's next for Gnome Wars?  Of course there will be Gnome Wars games at HMGS cons, but I wonder if it's not high time for Gnome Wars 3.0, with expanded campaign data straight from this blog.

    9.  Local Next Gen: With the girls leaving school soon, it might be a good time to get a Next Gen grant and set up a Viking, or AWI, or something better for Next Gen sessions at local libraries.

Gaming Year in Review 2025-26

 I've always tracked my gaming progress like the US Federal fiscal calendar (October through September). Don't ask why, it's always been like that, I'm not going to change now.

Over the course, I happened upon my review of my 2015-16 gaming year.  Full of hope, plans, and failed projects.  It was Maja's first overnight con, my first full weekend con (Mepcaon),  we had three gaming stores, and lots of people read my posts on conventions and pulp gaming. 

Ten years later, Maja likes to run games at HMGS conventions, all the stores shuttered (one has evolved to Sword in the Stone at the mall), and people still like my convention posts, my pulp posts, and my painting posts don't send people screaming. 

The Blog in General:  
The Top Ten Blog Posts Over the Past Twelve Months

1. The Historicon Mega-Game is Back! (Gnome Wars)
2. Historicon 2026 AAR (Conventions)
3. The Complete Strategist is Closing?  (Retail)
4. Zombie Planet Comics and Games, Albany (Reviews)
5. The Event List for Historicon 2026 (Conventions)
6. FlipSide Gaming, Clifton Park (Reviews)
7. Hawaiian Gnome Playtest Rules (Gnome Wars) 
8. Flights 2 Game Store and Hobbies (Reviews)
9. #RPGaDay Day 27 - Hunger (#RPGaDay)
10. #Star Wars Day - Mos Eisley Cantina Adventure Set (Painting)
11. Savage #4.2 - The Craft Fair of Chaos (Pulp)

I'm definitely spoiling my review of the goals I set for this year, but my trip to visit the girls in Albany got a lot of positive response, and a lot of organic page views. Gnome Wars and Painting tend to bring folks in repeatedly.  The reviews, local and abroad, have helped replaced my normal traffic from the HMGS Conventions I missed this year.

#RPGaDay2026:  The annual RPG community event was lackluster, and that could be more on this participant than anything else. The only true positive of the one word prompts is that I spent an evening with the Monday night online crew and brainstormed over the dozen or so that had left me puzzled... or underwhelmed with ideas.  

#CharacterCreationChallenge:  Overall a fun project that nets me about the same number of views as my wargaming stuff.  A LOT of positive engagement over at Bluesky, but most of the views still come from limited Facebook use and lukewarm Twitter posting.   Threads is either not recording at all, or hot garbage.  

The most popular post for the month, Captain Guy N Pygmalion for Gamma World.

#ZineQuest:  For the last four years, I have love the concept of promoting zines on Kickstarter. In that time frame, my posts for the month went from lowest productivity for the years (20-25) to 45-60 for the month.   This year, though, between the solid split between Kickstarter #ZineQuest and BackerKit's #ZineTopia, plus the underwhelming types of zines compared to my taste, I only highlighted a handful of zines, and signed up for zero.  I was easily more pre-occupied with...

#RPGCampaignTour:  A 28-day challenge for February to answer prompts about your RPG campaign.  Simple, fun, and a good way to review 130 episodes of Gamma World.  Twenty-six of the prompts were answered, with me using AI to figure out topics I more preferred to write about.  I chalk it up as a success.

Perhaps my favorite AI-generated artwork, Lady Vespara from the #CharacterCreationChallenge

#Project 350:  For my neverending tracking of blog draft posts behind the scenes, and posts scheduled for the future, I end the gaming year at 472 (314 blog draft and 158 scheduled post), definitely up from  453 (281/172) this time last year.   It's largely consistent, the big increase in drafts chalked up to my pre-gaming for January's #CharacterCreationChallenge. I'll admit that I've finished and schedule the post for four concepts I statted out, but I've plugged away about 25 placeholders for the event, everything from a name (ex: Rip Shenanigans), a concept (Christmas Tree farmers), or a whole crew of Delta crew characters with unique situations.   I still need to play more games to reduce my standing list of concepts that I need to put into action.

TRIUMPHS:

Mahalo to Our Hawaiian Gnome Overlords! - I received the Hawaiian Gnomes from Brigade Games in July 2025, and by December 2025, they were painted up, a near speed record for me!  

The playtest rules are out, and in a Great War focused Gnome Wars setting, melee troops need good balance, but also tactical skill to be successful.  

The Hawaiian Gnomes

Mepacon 49!  - Skipping Fall-In! allowed me a full weekend at Mepacon.  I love the new location, the attendees bring a lot of energy, and we had a quorum of the old group at dinner Sunday night!

A buncha old-timers playing Battletech

The Pulp Game Returneth!  We officially started Pulp Alley's Tomb of the Serpent and it's... fair.  Knowing what the girls normally expect from pulp-style games, it's a little underwhelming, but we're going to slowly work our way through, when we have the time.

Mepacon 50!  I made it to both cons within the years, and celebrated the con's big 5-0 by running a nostalgia-fueled series of events.  Talislanta and My Little Pony didn't fare to well, but I got plenty of players for the return of Burning Plastic and my Cthulhu Comes to Springfield TOON Games.  

Historicon 2026 - With a full crew, we commandeered the Commonwealth Foyer for a series of games properly showcasing the Hawaiian Gnomes, as well as some sweet outrigger canoes by Diabolical Terrain. 

The Hawaiians learned they were a melee army...

Volcano! 

Millie's Black Cat Transformation

The Women of Sisu

It only took well over a dozen years to get these gals painted up.

CATASTROPHES:

No Fall-In, No Gnome Wars, No Cold Wars, No Gnome Wars:   Funds and schedules didn't work out.  Unfortunately the rest of the Stout Gnomes were also quite sparse. 

Dog Wizard (Sculpted by Mike Lung)

The Death of Game Trade: The death of Diamond Comics distributors and the subsequent spin-off of Alliance Game Distributors to Universal Distribution forced my faithful Game Trade Magazine into obsolescence after the ignominy of being stuck behind an overpriced paywall at DriveThruRPG.   No free access to gaming solicitations any moron would want customers looking at and driving FLGS business is ridiculous.  I've reverted to looking at ADC Game Distributors Meeple Monthly, which has been passable for something I've done for years prior to GTM's 300+ issue monthly run.   My verdict:  Meeple Monthly is such a horribly crafted magazine, it would make the colored paper and stapled solicitations of 30 years ago laugh at them. 

Ronaldus Iaworski, Holy Gnoman

The Death of the Complete Strategist (King of Prussia): The announcement of the closing of the Complete Strategist in KoP came out of left field.  I wasn't able to get down there, but part of the greater OG gamer contingent did.  It could be argued that it was well past its former glories, but I repeatedly wanted to make visits down there, even after my kids stopped playing local AAU right down the street. 

GENERAL MUCKERY:

The Death of Meticulousness - Overuse of AI, so much so, I actually gave up most functionality for lent.  That barely worked.  I did find it amusing that I'm nearing a 1,000 day streak on Nightcafe, yet Gemini has been producing my weird Gamma World art on the first or second attempt, at a much higher quality. 

Cascadia

After a year and a half, we got another installment of the Mike Lung Gallery

A Review of My Plans from last October

1. My Back-Up Game, D.A.M.N.I.T. -  Even with the successful and completed Kickstarter for the Savage Worlds version (Space Beards!), I didn't get to implement.
2. Pulp (Savage Showdown) -   4.2, 4.3. 4.4, 4.5
3. Death Planet Iota Ongoing -  Games continue to be played.  I'm trying to use the characters on a spreadsheet to keep track of faction.  The high point, of course was the Mos Eisley comes to Death Planet Iota game. 
4. Mousling Fantasy - The Brutal Quest dive wasn't what I really wanted, and per my daughters, a return to Savage Worlds/Showdown is what is needed for next year.
5. Painting - Cleared all available gnomes, worked on sci-fi, embellished with fantasy/pulp when needed.  I could always paint more, but I'm satisfied. 
6. Reviews -  Gold Star!  I was satisfied with the number of reviews halfway through the year, and even after I started my new job, they seemed to keep coming in.  It's been fun visiting new game stores, and giving my old man opinions on the handful of items I purchase... and they usually produce good initial and perpetual views.  
7. RPG - Gamma World is the slow and perpetual monster that doesn't appear to be going anywhere, although we've had moments where players were revisiting the Roll20 page to prep for next weekend when combat went dark.  No direction on what people want after the campaign. 
8. Mini-Purge - We are at capacity ... but nothing purged quite yet. 
9. Wargaming at Steve's - Outside a game of Thunder Road, nada, although all his youth baseball stories with his kids definitely made Monday night sessions amusing.
10. Burning Trogs Redux -  Ha!  The eternal dream still lies dormant, but the 25th Anniversary Edition of Hackmaster stokes a few memories.
11. Cthulhu New York, Ia! Ia! -  Ha!
12. The Wikis -  Ha!

Star Wars (WEG) Rebel Commandos

Kickstarter Status:  

BK: Toon 2nd Edition  - 2027 

KS:  d6 System, 2nd Edition  - February 2025 - Beta PDF ARRIVED 

KS: Gone Foragin' - PDF ARRIVED

KS: Gone Scarin' - PDF ARRIVED

KS: Hackmaster 25th Anniversary - August 2027

KS: Monsters and Hunters by Macrocosm - ARRIVED

KS: Space Beards - PDF ARRIVED

KS: Space Dwarves - November 2027

KS: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness RPG  - ARRIVED 

Painting -   117 this year, after a monster 182 last year... looking at the pictures, I forgot that I painted many of these in the last 12 months! 

Reaper Bones Ankheg

The first few of the Hawaiians...

More cultists from Pulp Figures

Even more cultists from Pulp Figures

These two random Prussians drew a lot of page views

Not the Gnomes, just the Reaper road cones...

Brigade Games Goblins

2025-26  Gaming with the Gnomies Awards

Best Kickstarter:    Macrocosm Monsters and Hunters

Worst Kickstarter:  TMNT - Compared to Palladium's Robotech, it's a dream come true, but $25 for shipping one book in-country?   I think I understood how my simple order got to the tail end of US Shipments, but I tend to avoid campaigns with 8 month delays... so it still winces. 

Best Game:  39th Annual Cat Wrangle

Best RPG Purchase:  Mutant Crawl Classics - a big chunky book for the shelf, and a host of gonzo charts for Gamma World.  Best $10 con purchase in a loooong time. 

Best Minis:   Island Gnomes! ... and an appropriate runner-up with the Diabolical outriggers

Best Other Purchase:  Not my purchases, but my money.  I'm pretty systematic with my convention going: same vendors, same eating establishments, and Maja has always tagged along willingly, but with Mepacon 50, I can admit that she's the target demographic for a lot of the craft and peripheral vendors that attend our local con, and god help both of our wallets. 

Next: My Plans for 2026-27

(Painting) A Year-End Statue Base and a Tent

 It's the last Painting Friday until my gaming year turns over October 1st.    A good time to clear off two bulkier items off of the painting bench.  Check out my September 30th post for all the other over 100+ figures I knocked out this year!

Another 3-D printed object: a tent that I simply do not remember its origins from Historicon.  

Given To Cry a Joust is a very sudden project I'd like to flesh out, I might hunt a variety of these, but I'm not sure when I'm going to use it. 

And then there's the easiest project I've had sitting on the bench: a candle holder from the dollar store...

Which turns into a decent statue base.... 

That's a 30mm base on the werewolf. Anything smaller than 28mm would fall in...

Next:   The Hawaiian Gnomes accessory post should be ready for October, but I do I have some work on my game for Fall-In!  More to come with that, but I do begrudgingly need a visit to Hobby Lobby this weekend.

Project 350:  I'm definitely putting in more projects than I'm finishing, moving up to 472 (311/161) from  470 (310/160).  I've got a pile of reviews and maybe, just maybe, the mouslings will get resurrected.

17 Years of Gaming with the Gnomies

On this day, seventeen years ago, I published my very first post onto Gaming with the Gnomies.

5700 posts, 4.5 million page views, still going strong.  I've painted a ton of figures, played a pile of games with my girls, and catalogued all my RPG campaigns.   It continues to drive and intrigue me. 

The end of September will be my "Year in Review", where I post stats, my top ten posts for the year, plus the all-time posts. For now, I guess I’ll keep doing this for a while longer.

And I still have the bulk of that Schneider tank in a shoebox somewhere in the office, certainly unfinished. It might fare better as a kitbash for Death Planet Iota at this point.  

Gaming with the GnomiesGaming with the Gnomies

(Painting) Underground Burrowing Monster

I may have created a new personal gripe about 3-D printing.  I have no idea where I bought this piece while at Historicon:

I don't think it's Trainwreck 3D, but with the random purchases I grabbed and put into a bag, I can't be sure if this was one of their figures that isn't on the website, or is it somebody else's.

As to be expected, we have a new threat on Death Planet Iota.  A Murder Wurm?  A baby Krayt Dragon?  A burrowing suit of organic power armor? We'll need a scenario to try it out!  

Next:  So now that I finally got one thing off the painting bench, what's on the agenda?   An absolute mess that needs a weekend without anything else to do to clean up.  The Hawaiian Gnomes will get an accessory upgrade, there's the regular assortment of miscellaneous things, and I do have to prep this year's Christmas project that I've acquired (Mwhahaha)...

Project 350:  After all the chaos of #RPGaDay, I resume my quest to reduce my draft and scheduled blog posts with an unfortunate uptick.  I'm currently at 470 total posts behind the scenes (310 drafts / 160 scheduled), up considerably from  460 (297 drafts/163 scheduled)  way back on July 3rd.  

The scheduled number really can never drop below 100, as that's all the various holiday filler posts I've set up... for nearly the next 20 years!   And while there are a handful of cool scenarios I've seen on other blogs that I'd like to recreate, the uptick in drafts is early prep work/placeholders for my next RPG community event, the #CharacterCreationChallenge. in January.

TIki Gnomes on The Wachtmeister's Patrol

I assure you, there will be a full write-up from Friday's Gnome Wars MEGA-GAME, but the first in a series of quick shoutouts to players that were as equally as excited as we were to play this weekend. 

Friend of the blog/friend of the gnome Dennis over at The Wachtmeister's Patrol presented his take on the Gnome Wars Hawaiian gnomes, giving them a full Easter Island stone look from head to toe.  

I not only love the finer detail of the crabs and such, but the larger expansion of lore, with the larger stone heads and perfectly sized outrigger canoes from Diabolical Terrain.

And the little shout out to the blog at the end of his post didn't hurt either....

#RPGaDay 2026 is Coming

Right on the heels of #FreeRPGDay comes the listing for #RPGaDay, the monthlong event in August were we cover a topic a day to convey our love and enthusiasm for role-playing games 

I do believe the full list is posted on the RPGaDay Facebook group, as well as the blogs directly linked to the organizers.  I'll post the full list here right after I finish the last two painting projects, where I'll pause my blog performance to focus on these. 

(Painting) Gnoman Centurion Ronaldus Iavorski #InternationalGnomeWeek

It can't be #InternationalGnomeWeek, if I can't post at least one new gnome painted up!

The problem is, I've done a good job keeping the Gnome pile low, so I experimented with some different colors for this Holy Gnoman Empire Centurion

One of the famed heroes of the Gnoman was Ronadulus Iavorski, the "Vandal Vision" himself.   First gaining recognition for his accuracy in the bow and sling, Iavorski was bribed to join the Legion, and worked his way up to be the Centurion of one of the foulest Legions of all: the Aquilae Amoris Fraterni.  One of the rowdiest units in all of gnome kind, they jeered when they needed to show respect,  punch horses of their enemies, mid-charge, beat-up natives for fun, terrorize herders and rustlers, even turning their trebuchets onto Santa! 

.... and to be honest, I'm a Giants fan.  Painting up a figure Kelly Green just ain't right...

Next:  Shanties and gnomes, maybe the never-ending supply of Star Wars figs.

Project 350:  It's been a month since I tracked the drafts and scheduled posts hiding behind the scenes at the blog.  I'm actually pretty satisfied that I'm at 456 (292 drafts/164 scheduled) up from 452 (289/163) a few weeks ago.  Looking back at last year, we were a little higher, but managed to finish July strong before #RPGaDay always skews the numbers.  

Gnome Wars Nostalgia: 2011 with De Nerdibus #InternationalGnomeWeek

 As the makeshift #InternationalGnomeWeek continues to roll through, there's still a few lingering gnome-related posts, and given our proximity to Historicon, this one is a necessary throwback.  

Flashback to 2011.  Casinos were just getting their foothold in Pennsylvania.  HMGS thought they had the footprint (and volunteer base) to run a convention at the Baltimore Convention Center, then cooler heads finally prevailed, despite some legal shenanigans.  

The abortive attempt at Baltimore forced a quick replacement site for Historicon, and the Valley Forge Convention Center (again pre-casino) was the place to be.  

I believe 2011 was the second (and final pre-casino) use of the hotel.   Byzantine hallways and room should intrigue lovers of history... until you have to lug your stuff from the hotels to the convention center. 

The Gnome Wars crew had a pretty sweet arrangement, just a few massive games on the Miniature Building Authority "Castle" table displayed prominently near the vendor hall.  De Nerdibus covered it succinctly. 

De Nerdibus

It was a sold board, useful for a number of historical periods... and gnomes.  I believe I ran my first  Gnome Wars game on their Middle East board parallel to it. 

(Painting) Twi'lek Dancers by West End Games

 Lead shouldn't be magnetic, but these two figures somehow emerged from the lead pile and was part of the painting line-up for the Mos Eisley Cantina boxed set I mentioned for #StarWarsDay.

Oola (x2)  SW96

Like most of the West End, Oola was packaged in two way: the Jabba's Palace boxed set (40310) as well as in the 3-figure blister labelled as Jabba's Servants (40445).

I still haven't gotten around to the Mos Eisley cantina game I referenced when I painted up that box set, so perhaps I'll attempt to integrate these two into the scenario to introduce all of them into my Death Planet Iota game using Fistful of Lead.

Next: More Death Planet Iota buildings and a my Macrocosm Kickstarter arrived, so they're already based, primed, and pushed to the front of the line. 

Project 350:  Staying steady at 452 (289 draft/163 scheduled) from 452 posts (289/163) two weeks ago.  My work schedule and pending projects are slowing me down. 

#StarWarsDay Mos Eisley Cantina Adventure Set (West End Games)

 May the Fourth be with you!  

(And also with you....)

It happens that Star Wars Day corresponds with my recent trip to Mepacon 50, trying to figure out events to run for Mepacon 51 (complete with survey!), and my attempt to start painting minis after a three month hiatus.

The theme continues as my first project I started in April was the Mos Eisley Cantina boxed set for West End's Star Wars minis line that I happened to pick up for retail at the... Mepacon 49 Auction.

WEG 40309

I've picked up a lot of Star Wars blisters over the years, and more recently, I've been picking up loose figures at the HMGS convention flea markets.  I do not remember ever picking up a boxed set... did I mention the cantina set I grabbed from the auction was still in the original shrink wrap. 

The set is ten different figures featured in the classic cantina scene from the original Star Wars.  We're not building armies here, we're developing characters for your RPG/skirmish game.

And I'm more surprised that I finished them before May 4th. 

I've probably previously painted up half this figs. none are perfect, but since I made the last bartender look like Uncle Own, it's nice to have some variety.  

The most amusing thing about the boxed set literally fell in my lap when I opened up the shrinkwrap. 

The back of the box, including the the product bar code, pictures of the figures of the figures and the logos for both West End Games and Grenadier Miniatures.  

Flipping the paper to the other side, West End has provided Star Wars d6 stats for each figure!

All in all, it's an effective boxed set, although the figures were also available in the three-figure blister packs.

Kabe (SW86) and Hem Dazon (SW81)

In the spirit of #StarWarsDay, I plan on using the boxed set for a standalone game... of Galactic Heroes for the Fistful of Lead rules. 

Muftak (SW87)  Kerru (SW84) and Sivrak (SW85)

Garindan (SW83) and Labria (SW82)

Bartender (SW90), flanked by Cantina Musicians (SW 88 and SW89)

In the Queue - A number of Death Planet Iota buildings to kitbash and get off my painting bench, some more Star Wars figures that weren't part of the boxed, then some Reaper Bones fantasy, and then maybe, just maybe, the Great War Teddy Bears.

Project: 350 - This is my self-actualization that I'll never get around to all the stuff I've stowed away as a draft in the back of Blogspot.  My initial goal years ago was to have 350 or fewer blog drafts and long-term scheduled posts.  

That number still makes me laugh.

As of this post, I'm currently at 452 posts (289 drafts /163 scheduled posts).  That number is up from 451 (284/167) from the last time I reported when I last painted in February.  I would have made headway, but I have set up some placeholders for about a dozen ideas for next year's #CharacterCreationChallenge in January.   Outside of my weekly Gamma World episodes, there's not much coming off of the scheduled posts through Historicon, and  let's be realistic, I'm more likely to run games off on the fly, rather than the saved ideas, but with little prepping necessary for Historicon, there's always hope.