The Mummy

Happy Halloween! 

This was just a quick little thing I did for the spookiest day of the year! It’s the “Mummy Rising” set from Reaper that was painted as historically accurate as possible; I spent a long time looking at Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi in order to get the colors right. Because I’m that level of geek. 

Upon seeing the photo above, one of my friends said, "Yikes! That's nightmare fuel right there." Nice to hear that I did a good job! 

Anyway, hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween! 

"Eagle and Empire Calls for Aid!"

This isn't the usual sort of thing I post on my blog, but I wanted to see if I could help boost the signal on this. Last week, just before midnight on October 20, the Belle View Shopping Center in Alexandria, VA got caught up in a six-alarm fire. Over 100 firefighters responded to battle the blaze. Several businesses were damaged, and one of them was my FLGS, Eagle and Empire Game Shop. A fundraiser has been set up to help the businesses and employees get back on their feet. 

Thankfully the fire spared Eagle and Empire, but it sustained significant water and smoke damage according to their Facebook page. They also lost a lot of printed product as well. It was also by no means the only business affected. As of last Thursday, a total of 11 businesses remained closed with no clear idea of when they might reopen. Many of these are small businesses serving the community, and hundreds of people are being impacted by this.

As a result, the Mount Vernon-Lee Chamber of Commerce and Belle View Merchants Association have started a fundraiser to help with costs not covered by insurance and help those affected. If you have some spare cash, please consider a donation to the Belle View Shopping Center Fire Relief fundraiser. No amount is too small. Hopefully everyone will be back on their feet again soon!

Thanks for your time everyone! I'll get back to posting miniatures again soon.

NOVEMBER 5, 2019 UPDATE

Days after posting this, Eagle and Empire posted a GoFundMe fundraiser on their Facebook page. It can be found here. 

Funds will go to help with the shop's repair. According to the description, "The shop will need significant work done to repair the smoke and water damage and to replace damaged fixtures. The shop's insurance will help, but may not cover all the repair and rebuilding expenses, nor all of the lost income while the shop is being repaired."

Thanks everyone! With our community pulling together, I'm optimistic that Eagle and Empire and the other affected businesses will reopen soon. Belle View Shopping Center is a fixture of the local community and means quite a lot to many different people.

Crimson Stormtrooper Test Figure

Apologies for the month long absence! This last month has been something, with both good and bad things happening. But that’s the way it goes sometimes, isn’t it?
 

I’ve finally found the time to play with some of my Star Wars: Legion figures, and finished off this Crimson Stormtrooper tonight. 

Crimson Stormtroopers are specialized troops who operate in volcanic areas. Their only canonical appearance so far (that I know of) are as a 6” Black Series action figure from a few years ago.

I stumbled across a 40k Blood Angels painting tutorial and decided that I wanted to try it for this guy. The figure was painted mostly by dry-brushing, as seen in the first part of the video below:

The bases were really fun to make! I painted them in various reds, oranges, and yellows and slapped on some of Games Workshop’s new Mordant Earth. I’m really pleased with how they came out!

The rest of the figure, though, I’m not so sure about. But I do like the really worn and weathered look. It looks fitting for someone who’s working in a volcanic area. But I also have some Blood Angels Red Contrast paint, so I might try another test and see which one I like better.

It’s My Birthday!

Today’s my 32nd Birthday! 

I know I’ve not been doing too much in the way of actual miniature work lately, and I apologize for that. Work’s been rather crazy in the last month. I hope to turn my attentions to miniatures again soo...and some of my birthday gifts will help to reignite the spark. 

My wife gave me a copy of Risk: Star Wars Edition after seeing how much fun I had with it last weekend while we were in Chicago. She apparently had to pay for expedited shipping in order to get it here on time. She’s even told me that she’s willing to play with me sometime!

My mom gave me a copy of the Stars Wars: Legion Core Set as well! Not to mention a copy of an awesome book on the Battle of the Bulge filled with toy soldier dioramas (more on that in a different post). And my sister also got me a Milton Funko figure from “Office Space.” And indulging the cartoonist part of me, I also received a Peanuts coffee cup and Sarah’s Scribbles daily planner. 

As I said, in think these will all help me reconnect with my artistic side and get me to sit down and paint again. 

Throwback Thursday: The Second Battle of Minster West

This battle report was first posted on the Imperial Guard Boot Camp forum back in February 2009. The Praetorian-Valhallan War continued with another game at the Games Workshop Battle Bunker in Westminster, CA. 

Unfortunately, no photos exist of this game. Other photos will have to suffice, but these unfortunately aren't always of the best quality. Yay late-2000s camera phones!


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After Action Report
Submitted by Lord Whitlow
32nd Praetorian Regiment of Foot

On the evening of the 22nd, orders came through to intercept a Valhallan invasion force on the old battleground of Minster West. The "Weasel” was once again in command. Our orders were to halt the invasion and capture the enemy commander if possible. Three squads were deployed, as was my HQ staff and platoon command squad. Joining us were a conscript force of Praetorian sailors, Tallarn, and former Armored Fist troops. A Leman Russ was also made available to us.

We arrived on the field to find that the enemy was waiting for us. Their conscript horde moved forward towards a small fort located in the center of the battlefield. A barrage of rockets and lascannons engulfed our troops, and only two men were killed in this initial burst. Spotting his Medusa tank on the edge of the battlefield, our Leman Russ – commanded by Lt. Waters – destroyed the enemy vehicle in one blast. 

Outraged by this loss, the Valhallan commander seized the fort and concentrated all fire into our conscript force. Of the 30 man force, only about 15 survived this ordeal. Additionally, the platoon command squad under Lt. Jenkins was decimated. The lieutenant himself was executed on the spot by Commissar Quint for showing cowardice when he tried to order a retreat. Reeling from these losses, our troops were momentarily ineffective in engaging the enemy. The mortar squad did, however, manage to take out a few more of the conscripts who were now moving outside of the fort. I personally climbed to the top of a nearby hill to survey the scene. 

It was then that our conscripts were decimated, save for one. The brave fellow – Petty Officer Styles – stayed in the face of danger and began to lay into the enemy. We now laid the full fury of the 32nd Regiment into the enemy’s conscripts. The withered and died under our crippling fire, ultimately retreating from the bloodshed. 

By this point, however, it was too dark to further engage the enemy. We could hear his troops withdrawing, however, and their ships taking off. Thus, we had successfully held Minster West once again.

Special mention goes to Lt. Waters, the tank commander who knocked out the Valhallan Medusa in the first minutes of the fight. Petty Officer Styles, also, deserves mention. His stubborn resistance in the face of overwhelming enemy numbers is a credit to the steadfastness of the Praetorian Navy.

The World’s Largest Dice Roll?

On Friday, September 13, 2019 the biggest dice roll accidentally took place on I-75 in Atlanta, Georgia. About 216,000 were rolled and, using statistics, rolled a 756,000!

Trivium Studios posted the following video:

Risk: Star Wars Edition

My wife and I are in Chicago for a wedding and we’re sharing an Airbnb with our friends Helen and Eric. Risk: Star Wars Edition was brought and so yesterday, Eric and I decided to give it a go. 

The setup is quite a quite a bit different than than the usual version of Risk, as you can see in the photos. It represents the three different aspects of the Battle of Endor: the space battle around Death Star II, the ground battle on the forest moon, and the duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. The Rebel objectives: destroy the shield generator, destroy the Death Star, and destroy/redeem Darth Vader. The Imperial objectives: keep all that from happening and destroy everything. 

Eric played as the Rebel Alliance and I fought for the glory of the Galactic Empire.

As in Return of the Jedi, the Rebel Alliance starts with their entire fleet on the board. Additional squadrons are located on auxiliary fleet ships. Half of the TIE Fighters were deployed at the game’s start, with reinforcements aboard the Super Star Destroyer Executor. 

The side panels represent the additional fights going on simultaneously. The Rebel assault towards the shield generator is on the far side, and one nearest the camera has health charts for the Millenium Falcon, Executor, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader. 

The Falcon moves in to lead the Rebel assault!

The Executor takes damage! Admiral Piett orders more TIE squadrons deployed and takes evasive measures.

Suddenly, a bright green flash momentarily illuminates the area! A Rebel frigate, with a full complement of fighters, is gone. The Death Star II is fully operational! 

At almost the same instant, Luke Skywalker is struck down by his father. Emperor Palpatine laughs with sadistic glee.

The Rebel strike team breaches the bunker manages to destroy the shield generator! Rebel ships above begin the main assault. Only one D6 roll of six will destroy the space station. In an attempt to slow down the enemy, Executor sacrifices itself by serving as a distraction. The Rebels take the bait!

Meanwhile, all the fleet ships having been destroyed, the Death Star II targets the Millenium Falcon. It is destroyed instantly. 

Although the vast majority of Rebel ships have been destroyed, there’s still a great danger. Remember, the Rebels only need one roll of a six to win.

But in the end, the Empire wins and destroys the Rebel Alliance. The Galactic Civil War is all but over! 

All in all, this was a super fun game! It was neck and neck right until the end, and Eric could very well have won at several times if the dice had favored it. This is a game that I would definitely recommend and would play again in a heartbeat.