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| The Last Call crew. It was fun while it lasted. |
The Last Call
The end of my Five Parsecs From Home campaign was ugly.
The battle of turn #2 didn't go well. Painting up a set of figures to use as Psychos was taking too long, so I resorted to using proxies to move on with the campaign. The battle turned against The Last Call crew due to a combination of poor die rolls, the opposition performing better than expected, and admittedly suboptimal tactical decision making. The result was a bitter grind as The Last Call crew put up a spirited, but futile struggle.
If I were gamemastering it as a RPG campaign, I might have fudged a few die rolls and had the Psychos fumble around a little to give The Last Call crew a chance to pull things together. Even using the options in "The Stars of the Story" section only mitigated things to a point. The outcome wasn't a true TPK, but was still a demoralizing setback. A hole that big would take a long time for The Last Call crew to dig their way free. I would have to bring in a bunch of newly painted miniatures to represent new crew in order to continue. Why not end it, call the whole thing a learning experience, and start fresh later?
I started a draft of the final stand of The Last Call crew, but left it undone. Few of the photos came out well. This would make the resulting battle report an almost unbroken wall of text. The writing alone would have to keep a reader engaged. I know the last stand has a long tradition, but I couldn't come up with a narrative that made the fight anything other than a depressing grind. I ended up abandoning the draft. Everybody only has so much time. I felt that mine would be better spent doing other things.
Beginning a new Five Parsecs From Home campaign is in the cards for next year. The ubrupt end of The Last Call campaign was rough, but it was fun while it lasted! And it fulfilled the goal of motivating me to paint more miniatures. Next time, I'd like to have a model to represent the ship and more terrain, but neither is a requirement that's cast in stone. Any decisions about the ship model or terrain will ultimately come down to time and cost. Having some more miniatures painted up and ready to go would also be prudent. Or I could just wing it. Let's see what the new year brings!
The Last Call - A Very Short Five Parsecs From Home Campaign:
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| I'm still not sure what I'm doing with this thing. |
The YouTube Experiment
I'm still messing around with the YouTube Channel I started this year. Learning how to record audio and video, editing it, and finding ways to present it has been an engaging challenge. I think I'm closing in what to do with it, but I also want to experiment with the subjects I cover a little more.
For now, some links and short descriptions of what I've posted over there as of this post are below:
I'm still messing around with the YouTube Channel I started this year. Learning how to record audio and video, editing it, and finding ways to present it has been an engaging challenge. I think I'm closing in what to do with it, but I also want to experiment with the subjects I cover a little more.
For now, some links and short descriptions of what I've posted over there as of this post are below:
Short video on the scratch building parts that can be pulled off a bag of coffee.
The base on this unfortunate miniature from Wizards of the Coast was far too soft to hold the figure up. Even a mighty Beholder isn't that scary if it's falling over! Fixing it by replacing the base was a quick and fun little project.
Short video on trash bashing with these parts that come with a tasty drink!
A quick guide on producing the appearance of bare metal exposed by wear and tear.
Short video on the junk build parts that come with a bottle of salty, umami flavor.
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| Some glass I got on my birthday. Both are helpful in the making of this blog. |
More Miniature Photography Posts
Writing follow ups to The Post Where I Go On About Photography Gear and Kenko Extension Tube Set - First Impressions has been an exercise in hitting a moving target. There were several times when I thought that I had a handle on a process and started drafting a post, only from something new to upset the whole apple cart.
The simple truth of the matter is that I'm still learning and refining. How I approach miniatures photography has changed radically multiple times since I wrote those posts back in April 2021. A specific piece of gear might come and go and come back again. The camera settings have gone from one extreme to the other as I play with what works. This isn't a good place from which to teach others. I have tried to document my learning experience, but every draft has been tossed aside as no longer reflecting what I do by the time it's nearing completion.
It's going to be awhile before I dial into a preferred method and turn it into a time-tested formula. When I do, I'll be happy to share it so that others can benefit from my experience and improve their own methods.
These three were the glaring examples of unfinished business that I feel I should address. If there's anything else I've left undone that folks are curious about, feel free to fire off a question in the comments. Note that some projects are on hold due to the holidays. They will be resumed when time and weather permits - spray painting in the cold and wet is questionable at best.
Writing follow ups to The Post Where I Go On About Photography Gear and Kenko Extension Tube Set - First Impressions has been an exercise in hitting a moving target. There were several times when I thought that I had a handle on a process and started drafting a post, only from something new to upset the whole apple cart.
The simple truth of the matter is that I'm still learning and refining. How I approach miniatures photography has changed radically multiple times since I wrote those posts back in April 2021. A specific piece of gear might come and go and come back again. The camera settings have gone from one extreme to the other as I play with what works. This isn't a good place from which to teach others. I have tried to document my learning experience, but every draft has been tossed aside as no longer reflecting what I do by the time it's nearing completion.
It's going to be awhile before I dial into a preferred method and turn it into a time-tested formula. When I do, I'll be happy to share it so that others can benefit from my experience and improve their own methods.
These three were the glaring examples of unfinished business that I feel I should address. If there's anything else I've left undone that folks are curious about, feel free to fire off a question in the comments. Note that some projects are on hold due to the holidays. They will be resumed when time and weather permits - spray painting in the cold and wet is questionable at best.
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