Gnomes vs Rats by Irrational Number Line Games

One of the website I've always loved and need to be better at checking is Irrational Number Line Games.    

It's fitting that the organization of the website is lot like their name, but they did have a Gnomes vs Rats game that I missed.  I love the buildings and the set-up.

(Painting) A Dog-Gone Wizard by Mike Lung

 We continue my end of 2025 clean-up of the painting bench with a random figure.

This is a personal sculpt by friend of the blog, Award Winning GM Mike Lung.  This is well over a decade old, and one of two of his early attempts at sculpting and casting in resin (Edit: I found mention of the wizard on Jim Stanton's Stout Smurf blog circa 2017, making resin copies of the wizard and Mike's infamous Tequila Worms).  I remember the other figure a bit more, a terrier dog in the same garb, and with the paw-like hands of this one, I kept with a brown/black fur under those robes.  The wand is just a toothpick added after the fact. 

In the Queue - Teddy Bears, Christmas minis, and looking into new projects for the new year. 

Project: 350 -  from 470 (281 drafts /189 scheduled)  from  470 (279 /191).  

Goblin Guards from Brigade Games

One of the pick-ups from Historicon were some new metal 25mm goblins made directly from Brigade Games.  

(Edit: I did find the third goblin for the set, painted it that up, used my time machine to add him to this post)

They're solid, easy to to paint, and might be the only two goblins I have that are actually green (Remember, all my goblins/Gretchin are painted up as "Blue Martians." 

As of October, the goblins still aren't on either of their websites. 

In the Queue:  More Rebel Commandos, the Tiki Gnomes, and a small pile of miscellaneous fun.

Project: 350 -  Still in the early year reorganization at 482 (286/196) from 483 posts (283/200) last week.  Hopefully the placeholders I have for October will get posted on time.   With 2 1/2 months left in 2025, I have 26 posts ready to go, most of a big January project finished....

(Painting) D&D Twig Blights (WotC)

Sometimes retail therapy and painting therapy converge, and I have zero complaints. 

Summer has been weekend visits to my mother to check in on her and take care of the yard.    I've included a few side quests from time to time, but my usual itinerary is a visit to Wawa on the way home for dinner, and at least a quick stop at Cloud City Games in the Palmer Park Mall. 

Most of my time I'm surveying the fantastic collection of 'zines they have, but in a recent once over of their miniatures, I found a rack of 3rd Edition D&D metal minis hiding amongst the modern plastics.  Twig blights, the easiest (and cheapest) minis on the rack.    

Twig Blights (WOTC 40049)

I did switch them from the bigger d20 adherent slotta bases to some nice round ones for more varied used.

Last I checked, there were still two packs of them. If you already have six, why not twelve?

In the Queue:   Gotta be honest, some "necessary" Star Wars figures have pushed themselves to the front.  Goblins and Hawaiian Gnomes are probably part of the my gaming new year glut for October (yes, October).

Project 350: A nice steady decline to 455 (281/174) from 458 (282 drafts/176 scheduled).  My gaming year ends September 30th, so I have a bunch of smaller clean-up to do, but I do anticipate some New Years' "bulk up" to my back catalogue. 

Christmas in July - Christmas Mockingbeast (Reaper 01591)

At last year's Fall Mepacon, I received from a buddy a pile of Christmas-themed miniatures made by Reaper. I got a few of them done in time for Christmas, I got one done after the New Year, so I figured it would make nice Christmas in July filler.

Christmas Mockingbeast 

The entity might be simply mimicking the presents, so I fear this be useful with a failed search roll on a Christmas landscape. 

Hairfoot Jousting

 In a world where we are still debating what we are running at Historicon, the Friday-night gnome joust is locked in.  So long as one of the Stout Gnomes is on site, the joust is always conducted at HMGS conventions. 

This just shook me to my mortal coil: 

Hairfoot Jousting is a whimsical game of halfling jousting, where are favorite non-hobbit folk ride chickens, pigs, dogs, weasels, geese, and even turkeys for glory and fame. 

The pre-order for the figures launched yesterday.  I'm hoping Brigade Games, who distributes a lot of North Star in the States, will be carrying this line. And at $7 or so a figure, if they're just a hair bigger than 25mm, they find their way onto the table at a certain Friday night Historicon extravaganza.

(EDIT: Despite my initial enthusiasm, the halfling (and goblin) miniatures are true 25mm.  They are tiny compared to Gnome Wars.  There will be no cross-content.   That's not to say Hairfoot Jousting figures can't use To Cry a Joust, or that Gnome Wars mounted figures can't use Hairfoot Jousting, but there will no rush to purchase them for use at HMGS cons... at least for the Stout Gnomes.)

(Painting) General Balfas

It was an off weekend for once, I eschewed the demands of my painting queue, focusing on some easy to paint figures.  

I can't tell you what random line this figure is from, but I remember picking him up, missing arm and all, at one of the Historicons.  

(Edit 3/31/25) In my cleaning of the shelves, I uncovered a blister insert revealing the figure as Krieg the Relentless from Fantasy Flight's Descent. I am amused he is intentionally missing his left arms.)

I picture him as General Balfas, a ancient warrior that was originally part of my first D&D campaign, recollected in my Lost Dispatches of Feraso series.   

In the follow-up, they never completely destroyed the corpse, instead transporting the bones back to the village for a proper burial.  Even in the write-up of a this narrative adventuring party, I forgot some of the special ability of the General, particularly his regenerative powers.  

The blessing by Celeste was insufficient to break any such undead curse, so the good General has regenerated.  Eventually crawling out of his grave.   His sword, "The Betrayer" is long gone, as well as most of his fancy armor.  He acquired a weapon and a redirected vengeance on humanity.  After slaying the villagers, or forcing a few to flee, it's unsure exactly where he is....

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest - Mill of the Twelve Dead

 Mauro Longo has launce Mill of the Dead a scenario for characters level 1-3 for Old-School Essentials or your classic B/X fantasy games. 

Although I like the idea of a hefty 48-page adventure, in the theme of the month, I call into question the utility of a pdf option and a print to order hard copy pledge where the only option is hard cover, but that's just me.  

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - In the Land of the Sundering Flood

 #ZineQuest is here!   The annual celebration of small-format, indie RPGs takes place through all of February.  

The first offering that tickled my fancy is In the Land of the Sundering FloodA tabletop miniature adventure game from mammoth miniatures, inspired by the fantasy writings of William Morris.

In the land of the sundering flood is a 44 page A5 saddle stich zine format rulebook.
Inside you'll find:

• Simple miniature adventure rules for playing miniature skirmish games in the land of the sundering flood.
• Character profiles for some of the inhabitants of the world - Brave knights, fae enchanters, and fearsome beasts.
• An introduction to the land of the flood, a world of glittering plains, shadowed woods, and deep enchanted waters.
• Each book will also come with a laser cut acrylic movement template. 

In addition to the physical and PDF copies, Mammoth is also offering an option for five resin figures of characters in the zine.  

Mammoth is on the shortlist of publishers I buy sight unseen (see Planet 28/Brutal Quest), although I'll need to check finances before going for the minis I'll toss on to my massive lead pile.

(Kickstarter) Smurfs RPG

 After what has been a non-stop marketing blitz, at least all over my social media, Maestro Media has finally launched their Kickstarter for Smurfs: The Role-Playing Game

My only complaint is that I'm suffering from marketing fatigue, but they've spent their dollars wisely with samples of the product, and videos of gameplay and it's easily shattered its goals after the first two days.

(Backerkit) Ars Magica 5th Edition Definitive by Atlas Games

Atlas Games was launched their first crowdfunding campaign through Backerkit, blasting through the base goal for the Ars Magica Definitive Edition in mere minutes! 

What's Ars Magic? Let the campaign explain it best....

Ars Magica is a troupe-style, storytelling game. Players take the role of not only powerful magi, but also the companions and grogs who serve them. Each of these characters contributes to the communal “covenant” where they all live, and to the story itself.

Players work together to tell the story of their covenant. This tale can span decades or centuries of game time. It might be heroic, tragic, or both in turn. The covenant could influence the fate of their small corner of the world, or alter the history of all Mythic Europe.

The Definitive Edition is a comprehensive collection of the current 5th edition rules, so all current books and supplements are compatible!  

The Definitive Edition physical rewards includes the Core Rulebook, Reference Book, and a Storyguide Screen, all in a beautiful slipcover.   $39.99 for the PDF, $149.99 for the physical slipcover plus PDF.

(Painting) Auxiliary Horseman of the Apocalypse

One last figure to get off the painting workbench before my October-September gaming year wraps up and I change my some of my focus.  

This is a random figure I got with a pile of lead long ago.  He came with another skeletal rider that was finished, so it felt proper to finish him up enough to find a spot of both of them in the fantasy case.  

I'm assuming its one of the skeletal cavalry for Warhammer, back when UNDEAD was just a thing, or better yet, just Warhammer was a thing.  

(Edit:  After pictures, the figure was the victim of an unstable light on the painting table.  It didn't survive a two-foot fall.  There are few items I've painted over the years as freakin' fragile as Games Workshop).  

Next in the Queue:  A whole new year, and a whole reorganization of projects. I'll present them officially on October 1st, like I do every year.  Gnomes, Gnomish Space Marines, Transnitrians, and Pulp Figures.

Project 350:  Holding steady with 516 (323 draft/193 scheduled) compared to 516 (319  /197).  There's maybe.  I've got half of October already written up, and a quarter of November and December filled.

(Kickstarter) 28mm Fantasy Dwarves Second Slaying! by Macrocosm

I personally love Macrocosm Space Dwarves line, but did you know they have an extensive fantasy line, in a consistent sculpting style?

28mm Fantasy Dwarves Second Slaying! is an expansion on their Fantasy Dwarves.  Big, sturdy, and suitable on a table  with another British miniature company.  

My only drawback with Macrocosm is the UK shipping, but they also seem to be the one company I get everything from fast.  

(Kickstarter) DUKK BÖRG by Gem Room Games

MÖRK BORG just has never intrigued me at all.  Too much doom-and-gloom, too nihilistic, too brutal. 

But I believe the Kickstarter for DUKK BÖRG by Gem Room Games generates just enough hope, nay fun, to allow the the treasure seekers on a dying world with no futures to generate a ray of happiness, even if it's fleeting.

From the Kickstarter:

In DUKK BÖRG you are the treasure hunters and gizmo speakers that seek to be the richest ducks of a dying world. You will form your own clan of found family, hoping that together you’re smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies. You will face off against witches and crime syndicates, seek out ancient treasures, explore the doomed city of DUKK BÖRG and the surrounding Calikotan environs, and watch helplessly as apocalyptic psalms based on the classic theme song tick down to doom. Life is truly like a hurricane here in… DUKK BÖRG!

Always Confirm Exactly What Your Looking For

 

(Kickstarter) Savage World Fantasy Skirmish

Chalk this one up to the "I thought we already had this" category, but Graham Bottley and Arion Games have launched a Kickstarter for a licensed set of Savage World Fantasy Skirmish Wargaming Rules

There was already a perfectly serviceable set of skirmish rules, Savage Showdown, that as of this writing, are still available for free on the Pinnacle website.  I've used them to fuel my Savage Saga of Maja Millie campaign for the girls and they've worked quite well. 

Two positives for this campaign.  I've been largely unable to recreate the pulp campaign magic or enthusiasm in our Mousling games.  Also, I might make a distinction that these rules appear to focus on individualized units in skirmish setting versus individualized figures in a unit.  Regardless, it's on my watch list to follow and ponder a pledge before the month is out. 

(Painting) One Colorado Elf

Alright, it's a High Elf, but there's multiple meanings that fit for a High Elf. 

Here's my 45 minutes of zen at Hobby University at Cold Wars.  A little touch-up and basing later, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, although Brutal Quest is on the horizon for Q3 of my gaming year. 

I'll openly admit a roller coaster of highs and lows over the winter, culminating in a post-con funk last week.  Hopefully I'm pulling out of that, as Tuesday, I successfully had a half-day in the office and half-day at home, ran some errands at lunch/my commute, and ended the evening in a spot I haven't been a long time:  Painting at my bench while listening to a Georgetown University Wargaming Society webninar on Wargaming at West Point. Sure, immediately after the event I needed to run stuff to my daughter's basketball practice (She left under the seats while she was hanging out on Saturday), but it was a lovely and productive night.

Next: I am getting paint to figures, just not fast enough. Next week will be a veritable explosion of figures and terrain. to get me over my 2019 numbers and more than halfway to my 2020.   Blue Martians, and Chaos Space Gnomes and some impromptu scenery still clog up the table 

Project 350:  Down to 458 (300/158) from 463 (302/161)  Prepping for a few weeks of gaming extravaganzas for Easter and my birthday, so barring a sudden backlog in Gamma World Actual Plays, we can finally break 300 drafts and stay below it until the #RPGaDay list comes out in July.

(Kickstarter) Delver 7: Resources for the Random-Rolling Referee #ZineQuest2023

 When it comes to Game Kickstarters, I actively avoid STL files (no 3-D printing options, plus I've got thousands of figures that need to be painted already) as well as most Fantasy Role-Playing Games.  I simply haven't used some of the material I've owned for decades, so if it doesn't hit my very specific demographic (or in the case of the Caves of Refuge, a known quantity from a trusted source) I'm simply not going to look at most of them. 

Delver magazine hits my demographic of utility and nostalgia. The current Kickstarter for Delver Issue #7 

Delver is a 'zine-sized magazine dedicated to OSR fantasy resources.  In reality, the primary features of Delver are random charts and tables, the staple of old-school D&D and similar ilk... and the foundation of my early years.   The one thing I've greatly appreciated while starting up my Gamma World campaign are the random charts and tables that exist even into 4th Edition.  Plus, outside of the currently module, everything else is sandbox and while the online resources for randomness are strong, there's nothing like referencing a particular chart for just this specific occurrence. 

Delver #1-6 in print and pdf are available as add-ons, as well as a customized Adventure Journal. 

(Kickstarter) The Caves of Refuge: The Mines of Misery by Cyrus Duane #ZineQuest2023

 Holy crap, my friend launched a Kickstarter... and it's for #Zinequest!

Cyrus Duane is crowdfunding for The Caves of Refuge: The Mines of Misery, a Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) funnel adventure in zine-format publication (5.5" x 8.5")

From the Kickstarter: 

THE CAVES OF REFUGE : THE MINES OF MISERY takes townsfolk desperate to flee for their lives through an accidental character crucible, pitted against weird subterranean creatures and challenged by twisted ancient magic recasting the commoners into budding adventurers. Those that fail will leave their souls behind, forever trapped in a dynamic Judge controlled cavern system without a static map, in restless mist shrouded caves with the trapped souls of ancient miners twisting the tunnels around inside the mountain..... This publication is how I share with you my labor of love to create a masterwork funnel that I have playtested, revised, and expanded upon over 5 years.

Having played in Cyrus' follow-up adventure to this at Mepacon, I can only report the excitement and enjoyment from the players who went through this funnel and the surviving characters back to that session. 

AI Art for Fun and Inspiration

 Dozens of RPG books, hundreds of unpainted minis, a whole blog of ideas and scenarios to play...

And I listen to one blog religiously and because of it, I may have a new addiction.

Episode #517 of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff (KARTAS).  Three of the segments were a double dose of the Cinema hut, a Ken's Time Machine that kept me interested about Poland's January Uprising.  

The Business of Gaming segment, usually interesting, but pretty innocuous, had me dead to rights.  

The specific topic?  The use of AI generators with RPG art.   I won't go into the pro and cons within the industry, but I am simply amazed at the text and art AI generators that are available for little or no cost.  

I've recently come upon some neat names that scream character creation.  I had planned on maybe building up the #CharacterCreationChallenge for January, or perhaps some 5e pre-gens for a concept I'm working.

I also (thanks to KARTAS) have the bare-bones concept of Favomancer (a diviner who uses beans).  

With a simple text of "Cyprion Broodbank, a Favomancer, walks into an inn, with a fireplace," these were the four images DeepAI generated:

Cyprion Broodbrank, a Favomancer

Let me tell you,  the lower left and upper right get the feeling I was hoping for, and the lower right ain't bad either.  

What was even more amusing was using that exact same text and putting it in the text generator, and I have a backstory I would so use in a game.  Sure it randomly involves a donkey, purple and silver facepaint, and a vague encounter with the innkeeper's wife that's either an exorcism, intimate relations, or some odd tribal massage technique.  It's not a million monkeys on a million typewriters writing Shakespeare, but there's an awesome backstory.  Now just to stat him up with 5e or Hackmaster.

I also tried two attempts at NightCafe:  one for "halfling woman Norma Gimblespringer"

and one for "Zorin Redrock, gnome titan (spartan) warrior, plated armor, weathered face from years on the sea, looking to avenge his friends against the slavers of Roark."

He let his goatee fill out, but that's how I've pictured "Old Man" Zorin for the past twenty years. 

I last discussed this background for my Burning Trogs Redux game during #RPGaDay 2022.  It would involve some work, online or at the table, but this would Zorin's character art for when the band officially got back together.  

Of course, the biggest problem with AI is that an identical description will not generate the same product, and neither will any modification (Cyprion dancing, Zorin chopping down a tree, Norma making pies).

With the nominal fees for large quantiles of art and text, I understand why it could become a problem in the RPG industry,  but this is the true clipart I've been looking for when a scenario/article/scene had no interior art in the book.