My TimeWatch Resource List

“TimeWatch, by Kevin Kulp, is a GUMSHOE game of investigative time travel. You are a defender of history, an elite TimeWatch agent plucked out of your native era and trained to stop saboteurs from ripping history apart. Your training allows you to diagnose disruptions in the time stream and track down the cause, making conclusions that less capable investigators might just guess at. The TimeWatch rules presume that you are a highly competent badass. Who are you to prove them wrong?”

- Description of the TimeWatch RPG from Pelgrane Press.

I backed the TimeWatch RPG Kickstarter in 2014.* Time travel hi-jinks and the GUMSHOE system made for an appealing combination. The latest series of updates include electronic versions of the finalized game materials and news that the books are going to press soon. Which gives me a deadline for getting ready to run the game if I wish to wait until the physical copy of the rulebook arrives. My knowledge of real and alternate history isn't something I can rely on to launch a TimeWatch campaign without research. To that end, I put together a resource list after a quick pass through my personal library.

GURPS Time Travel. Steve Jackson and John M. Ford explore the concept of a time travel RPG. Plenty of ideas to mine here. Pity that the timeline in the back ends in 1994, but that can't be helped. Copyright 1991, 1995.

GURPS Alternate Earths. Kenneth Hite, Craig Neumeier, and Micheal S. Schiffer present a number of alternate histories for the Infinite Worlds campaign frame from GURPS Time Travel. Some of the alternate histories don't stand up to close inspection, but whisking the player characters in and out of them fast enough should help prevent awkward questions. Copyright 1996, 1998.

GURPS Alternate Earths 2. The sequel to GURPS Alternate Earths. Copyright 1999.

GURPS Who's Who 1 and GURPS Who's Who 2. These anthologies complied by Phil Masters presents figures from throughout history. More importantly, those figures are presented from a game perspective. Information on how they might react to the player characters and notes on how they might impact a time travel game are the focus. Copyright 1999.

Suppressed Transmission and Suppressed Transmission 2. Anthologies of Kenneth Hite's column of the same name which ran in Pyramid Magazine during its years as a website. In particular, the essays on history and alternate histories promise plenty of ideas for the borrowing. Some of the concepts here are more thoroughly explored in Kenneth Hite's later works. Copyright 2000.

What If? An anthology of essays describing turning points in military history and the alternate worlds that could have resulted from changes to that history. Copyright 1999. Edited by Robert Cowley.

What If? 2. Editor Robert Cowley casts a wider net for the essays in this sequel to What If? The book is not exclusively focused military history. Copyright 2001.

With all this, I don't have to come up with my own ideas for TimeWatch. I can just borrow from the hard work of others!


* The fact that I'm getting my backer rewards two years later doesn't surprise me. My previous Kickstarter experiences have turned me a little cynical and I regard the delivery dates given for backer rewards as fictional. I have to credit Kevin Kulp with keeping up excellent communications and updates for TimeWatch's backers. Not every Kickstarter goes to that much effort to maintain goodwill.

Lemax Large Pebble Mats

It's that time of the year! The air has turned from crisp to cool to cold. The leaves fell long enough ago for the neighbors to wonder when they are going to get raked up. And the mainstream stores keep lowering their prices in a bid to attract Christmas shoppers. It's a good time to find some deals.

Two Lemax Large Pebble Mats - one still in the packaging and the other unrolled. American quarter coin provided for scale.

These Lemax Large Pebble Mats are a good example. Lemax markets them for use in Halloween or Christmas village dioramas. They are available at locations like Micheal's as a seasonal item starting in Autumn and are frequently marked down after Halloween.

Each mat measures roughly 18 x 36 inches. Two mats provide a 3 x 3 feet play area. This works fine for 28mm scale skirmish games such as Frostgrave, but is small for games like Warhammer 40K and Warmachine/Hordes. The 3 x 3 feet area also works for 15mm scale games, but the stone pattern looks a little big with smaller scales.

Close up of the detail. The "stones" and the "surface" are clearly discernible.

The detail on the Pebble Mats easily passes for cobblestone. The stone pattern does repeat over the surface of the mat, but the pattern is a little over 3 inches wide. This is big enough not to be obvious after terrain and models are placed on the mat. Some drybrushing and a wash would bring out the pattern, but is not necessary.

The Lemax website does display other patterns for their mats. However, the “Brick” pattern is the only one that I have seen in person. I choose the “Pebble” pattern over the “Brick” for its versatility. Stone has been used for roads over a longer historical period and over a wider area than brick. It fits right into fantasy settings and even looks fine for lower-tech science fiction settings.

Side on view of a rolled up mat. Note the thickness of the plastic mat.

The mats are made of a thick and heavy plastic. Scuffing the surface may be a long term issue, but the material should hold up to regular use. The plastic is thicker than comparable felt mats, so simply folding them up is not an option for storage or transport. The mats do roll up well, but the edges do need to be smoothed out before use.

Full price for a Lemax Pebble Mat this size is 24.99 USD. This is comparable to felt or cloth mats of similar size. However, I took advantage of the Micheal's post-Halloween sale price to get them for a significant mark down. A word of warning! They are harder to find as the holiday season goes on. Good hunting!

Spartan Scenics Warehouse Accessories

Painted pieces and packaging. I decided against painting them all gray and grimdark.

These are from a set of 28mm scale resin terrain pieces. I'm guessing from their appearance that Spartan Scenics had Infinity in mind when they put these on the market. However, they look generic enough to work as scatter terrain for most science fiction skirmish wargames and RPGs. Not all of the pieces that come in the box are pictured - I lost some due to gremlins between purchase and painting.

The pieces are solid resin and most do not require assembly. The detailing is good. There are handles, security keypads, and other greebles that suggest a functional (but scaled down) object. The casing is excellent. There are no mold lines marring the details of the pieces. There are a few bubbles on the underside of a couple of pieces, but no one will notice once the pieces are placed on the table.

After reviewing my long list of projects, I decided on a quick and basic approach using spray paints for the majority of the work. The first layer is a gray auto body primer. The base coat is a dark brown (Krylon Brown Camouflage Paint Made with Fusion – Ultra Flat). I divided up the pieces into four groups and picked out a color for each group (Krylon ColorMaster Paint+Primer in Aluminum, Iris, Rich Plum, and Pumpkin Orange). In each case, I sprayed at a high angle to leave a little of the brown base coat under the raised areas. This created a shading effect and an overall dirty, worn look for most of the pieces. The biohazard symbols were picked out with red (Reaper MSP 09279 Fresh Blood). The keypads and display panels got a dark green base (Reaper MSP 09011 Leaf Green), followed by a bright green layer (Reaper MSP 09294 Alien Goo), and highlighted in a bright yellow (Reaper MSP 09287 Neon Yellow) to simulate self-lighting. The pieces painted in non-metallic paint were then sealed (Testors Dullcote) to bring down the shine from the satin and gloss finishes of the spray paint.

Sarah Blitzer looking for a clear line of fire through all these cargo containers. She's a little concerned about all the biohazard warning signs.

Functionally, the pieces work well at blocking lines of sight and for models to use as cover. The pieces can be stacked on each other with varying levels of stability. The appearance of the pieces convey a science fiction feel that works well for just about any space opera game. I was most strongly reminded of firefights in the Mass Effect games, but diving behind cargo containers is a staple of Star Trek, Star Wars, and other science fiction settings to numerous to list here.

The back of the box has some interesting suggestions that I couldn't resist expanding on. Using the pressurized tanks as cover may not be the best idea, especially if they contain explosive gases. Using biohazard containers as cover is an even worse idea without protective clothing. Coming up with a chart to determine the effects of shooting these containers with a couple of die rolls should be easy enough in any game system. The pallets could be remotely controlled anti-gravity platforms designed to make forklifts unnecessary. Anti-grav pallets would move around during a fight and complicate planning - a model could find itself without cover as the pallet and its cargo floats away from it. Alternately, some quick hacking into the pallet's software could move them at one player's command. Getting rammed by an anti-grav pallet loaded with heavy cargo containers is bad news even for someone in power armor.

Overall, these pieces look like they will be a staple of my science fiction games for some time to come.

Throwback Thursday: Nazis in Stargate: SG-1

Status Update: I'm working on some new content for this poor, neglected blog as my limited free time permits. In the meantime, I happened on some content from my even older and long defunct gaming site from back in the day. I'll be dusting off some of it from time to time.

This post features the idea of using the descendants of a lost Nazi expedition in the Stargate: SG-1 setting. It predates my purchase of Alderac Entertainment Groups' licensed Stargate: SG-1 game and the last few seasons of the TV series. It also predates the Stargate: Atlantis antagonists known as the Genii, who loosely resemble the concept.

Enjoy!

Nazis in Stargate: SG1

Introduction

The premise of Stargate: SG1 is steeped in weirdness. It establishes that the pyramids were landing pads for alien starships, that there is a factual basis for many of Earth’s myths, that at least one crystal skull does have strange powers, and other Fortean goodness. Most of the time, ideas like these are presented as background material and the story moves on. None of the characters seem to dwell too much on the fact that basic assumptions about the history of their world are routinely destroyed.

Putting some of the ideas from the series together and mixing in some weirdness from other sources can lead to even more interesting results. Here is an example. The Stargate unearthed at Giza in 1928 lacked a DHD. The episode "Watergate" establishes that the Soviets captured the missing DHD from the Germans after WWII. "Solitudes" reveals that existence of a second Stargate and DHD in Antarctica. Add the notion that the Nazis possessed secret underground bases in Antarctica.

Stir carefully.

The result? Nazis in Antarctica, who use the Stargate there to escape Earth after WWII.


The Giza DHD
"The Tomb" establishes that the DHD at Giza was removed by German archaeologists in 1906. They would have been able to determine its age from other clues at the dig site. That the DHD is a product of advanced technology would be self evident. However, it is not likely that they were able to determine its function, since they lacked a Stargate.

Some of the higher ranking Nazis had an interest in archeology and the occult. For example, they sponsored expeditions to locate the Holy Grail in France. If word about the discovery at Giza leaked out, someone working for the Nazis may have made the connection between the DHD and whatever was found in 1928. This may have sparked more research into the DHD.

The Soviets may have captured any German research along with the DHD after WWII. The Russians already had detailed information on the SGC when they started their own Stargate program. The German researches may have given them an additional edge over the Americans. The Russian government could still have the notes from these researches.


Antarctica in WWII

There was no fighting in Antarctica during WWII, but a few interesting events did occur in the area before, during, and immediately after the war. Here are some of the highlights from real world history.

January 1939: Alfred Ritscher leads an expedition from the Kriegsmarine catapult-ship Schwabenland. The ship operates two Dornier-Wal flying boats which are used to survey over 200,000 square miles. Six-foot metal spears with swastika fins are dropped from the aircraft to stake a claim on the surveyed territory. Ritscher names this area Neuschwabenland ("New Swabia").

During WWII: The German commerce-raider Pinguin sinks or captures thousands of tons of Allied shipping in southern waters.

After WWII: Several high-ranking Nazis elude capture and disappear.

August 1945: U-530 and U-977 surface off the coast of Argentina three months after V-E Day. U-977 is undermanned. 55 German U-boats are unaccounted for.

Late 1946: Operation High Jump. A US Navy task force of 13 ships, including an aircraft carrier, spends several weeks surveying the Antarctic continent. The expedition is commanded by Admiral Richard Byrd.

The idea of Nazi bases in Antarctica dates back to speculation during WWII. The story of how the Nazis established themselves in Antarctica usually starts with Ritscher. His expedition discovers hot springs and ice caverns that would be suitable for the creation of secret underground facilities. Over the next few years, U-boats transport the personnel and supplies necessary for the construction of these bases. More technology and materials are sent as the war turns against the Nazis. The bases become a bolthole for some of the high-ranking Nazis would went missing after the war. Operation High Jump was an attempt to locate and possibly destroy any Nazi bases in Antarctica. Speculation on how the bases remained hidden over the decades range from secret deals with other governments to moving the bases to the Hollow Earth. Although these are interesting notions, they are outside the scope of this document.


The Implications of a Nazi Base in Antarctica
In the Stargate: SG-1 setting, it is assumed that one of these bases was near the Stargate and the scientific personnel there learned how to use the DHD. This would create the ultimate escape route for the Nazis. This would be especially tempting after months of living in the cold of an Antarctic base.

One problem is that the abandoned Nazi bases would have to be hidden even after they were abandoned. The SGC built a base near the location of the Antarctic Stargate ("Frozen"). The function of the base was to see if there was anything else of interest at the site after the Stargate and DHD were shipped off to the United States. The SGC personnel would have found any signs of a Nazi presence near the Stargate.

The best solution is that the Nazis, who were paranoid to begin with, eliminated all traces of their bases to throw off pursuit. Explosives would have collapsed any caverns. Teams of men could have carefully picked up any trash near the Stargate that would betray their use of it. The last team to go through the Stargate may have triggered a partial collapse of the cavern it was in as a final security measure.


Destination Scenarios

Stargate: SG-1 establishes that dialing random coordinates takes a great deal of luck. Even then, it might take hundreds or thousands of tries before a wormhole connection is made to another Stargate. And not every Stargate is on a world capable of supporting life.

The scenarios below assume that the Nazis got lucky. After all, finding the long dead bodies of Nazis on some airless world is not a very interesting adventure (although it might be used as the start of one). The scenarios also assume that any bases in Antarctica were stripped and abandoned. The Nazis committed all available resources to escaping Earth and colonizing the world they discovered.

Destination: An Uninhabited World

Most of the worlds capable of supporting life seem to be inhabited by a human or alien culture. The exceptions tend to be uninhabited for a reason. They might be geologically unstable, lack enough water, be too close to a black hole, or pose some other danger to anyone on the surface. Again, it is assumed that the Nazis got lucky. Their world is safe for long term human habitation.

The main difficulty faced by the Nazi colonists is a lack of numbers and technological resources. A more realistic Antarctic Nazi base (as much as such a notion can be realistic) holds no more than several hundred personnel. A few hundred is more likely. Many of those people would be needed for fairly mundane tasks, such as growing food. Even with equipment from Germany or captured from Allied shipping, they may not be able to immediately establish an industrial base. This would make it difficult for the Nazis to maintain the equipment they brought with them. Keeping up with technological developments on Earth would be impossible. Of course, a cinematic campaign featuring the Nazis as evil masterminds can feature thousands of personnel and whatever equipment that Nazi Germany was even remotely capable of manufacturing.

Destination: An Unclaimed Primitive World

This describes a world with a pre-industrial human culture that has no contact with any of the various alien races. The native population would number in the thousands. Most of them make a living by growing crops, but there are a few specialists such as blacksmiths.

How the Nazis would treat the natives would depend on their ethnic background. Anything other than an Aryan population would be subjugated. Such a population would be a good resource of aid for the player characters, especially if they can set up some kind of resistance movement.

It should be noted that the Nazi definition of "Aryan" changed considerably over the course of WWII. Their Imperial Japanese allies were embraced as Aryans of a sort. Even the fanatical Waffen SS units were recruiting non-Germans by 1943, including Russian POWs. This decision was spurred by personnel shortages. The Nazis were not above redefining their beliefs for pragmatic reasons. The realities of a small population supporting a growing industrial base might force them to do so. On the other hand, a die-hard SS commander might order the native population worked to death regardless of other factors.

Assuming that the native population survives, the Nazis will benefit from not having to devote personnel to growing food and mining raw materials. This will increase the growth of their industrial base. Their level of technology would be comparable or superior to that of Kelowna. While this still lags behind that of Earth, it is enough to work with nuclear power and develop a basic understanding of any Earth or Goa’uld technology that they capture.

Destination: A Goa’uld World

It is assumed that the Nazis somehow survive their first encounters with Jaffa and establish some kind of base. Otherwise, their presence will be nothing more than a footnote.

A Goa’uld would only tolerate Nazis on his planet if he got some kind of advantage out of it. The Nazis may have convinced him that they can offer him technology or other services in exchange for limited freedom. They may also agree to become enforcers on the world that they are on, freeing Jaffa for duty on other worlds. This would involve an unusually open-minded Goa’uld, however.

Another possibility is that the Nazis went underground and are fighting the System Lord or minor Goa’uld ruling the planet. The Nazis are unlikely to have a large base or other resources. This makes maintaining their weapons and equipment a problem. They may have small manufacturing sites hidden underground, but they would not have the means to research more advanced technologies. An irony of this approach would be that the SGC could find itself on the same side as the Nazi descendants while fighting for the freedom of this planet. Afterwards, the Nazis might be regarded as heroes by the population and end up ruling them. This poses obvious issues for the player characters and their chain of command back on Earth. This is especially true if the Stargate program ever goes public.

Destination: An Asgard-Protected World

There is a degree of irony in this concept. The Nazis attempted to revive worship of the Norse gods, going so far as to depict WWII as Ragnarok. The pre-industrial humans under the protection of the Asgard generally give them a great deal of reverence. It is possible that the Nazis will incorporate the Asgard into their belief system after contacting such a culture. Such beliefs would be reinforced by the recorded projections that the Asgard use while interacting with those under their protection.

The Asgard themselves might be unaware of the arrival of Nazis on a protected planet. "Thor’s Hammer," "Thor’s Chariot," and "Red Sky" imply that the Asgard do not regularly monitor conditions on worlds covered by the Protected Planets Treaty. The Asgard have provided the means for the populations of protected worlds to contact them, but this requires knowledge that a pre-industrial culture would not possess.

On the other hand, the Asgard could know of the Nazis, but not be concerned about their presence on a protected planet. The Asgard may have been more active in the 1940s than they were during the 1990s and early 2000s. The Replicator threat may have been smaller or even non-existent at the time the Nazis made their escape through the Antarctic Stargate. This makes it more practical for the Asgard to check on the worlds under their protect ever now and again. A group of more technologically advanced humans would be obvious. Why not tell the SGC about the Nazis? The Asgard have been known not to volunteer information to the SGC for a variety of reasons. They not regard it as important or may not wish to see fighting break out between the SGC, the Nazis, and the native population.

How the Asgard react to the Nazis depends on their behavior. Nazis who abuse the population of a protected planet may be treated the same as a Goa’uld invasion force. A group of Nazis who treat the population as long-lost Aryan brothers and try to raise their technology level might be regarded as a useful loophole in the Protected Planets Treaty. However, the Asgard may try to change the Nazis into something less aggressive and bigoted. In any event, the Asgard will know exactly who they are dealing with due to their knowledge of Earth history.

It is likely that the Nazis will fare about as well on an Asgard-protected world as they would on an unclaimed planet with a pre-industrial civilization. They will be able to trade for food with the native population, but developing an industrial base will still take time. The Nazis are not likely to benefit from any Asgard technology they examine. The relative technology levels are too far apart for any useful reverse engineering to take place.


Encounters

How the SGC discovers the Nazis is mostly left as an exercise for the GM, but here are a few guidelines. Stepping out of the Stargate and into the middle of a Nazi-held planet is less than sporting, but will certainly be exciting for the players for as long as the adventure lasts.

The Nazis may have buried their Stargate after they arrived on their new home. This would prevent the SGC from discovering them and allows the GM to introduce them at a time of his choosing.

It is also possible that the Nazis will launch an exploration program once they have created a secure base of operations. Their explorations will be slow unless they find a source of valid Stargate coordinates. Random dialing would only turn up a valid set of coordinates after months or years of trying.

A Nazi equivalent to a SGC team would be quite capable. Nazi Germany developed weapons and other gear that still holds up fairly well in the early 21st Century. Their SG-44 assault rifle and MG-42 light machine gun are comparable to the AK-47 and M-60. Their main weakness would be the lack of advanced electronics. It is highly unlikely that the small industrial base available to the Nazis would be able to keep up with Earth in this regard. Any electronics that they do have would either be reverse-engineered from other sources or would be very crude by SGC standards. This will give the SGC advantages in nightvision, communications, and computing, but both sides will be a rough match in firepower. These advantages will degrade with time as the Nazis adapt and improvise improvements to their doctrine and gear.

Giving the Nazis a larger industrial base or access to advanced technology would produce a serious threat to SGC. The Nazis may end up using the equivalent of modern firearms and electronics supplemented by alien equipment. This makes them an even match for an SG team. The balance may tip towards the Nazis if they manage to develop hardware from experimental programs begun in Germany. The more advanced gear the Nazis have access to, the bigger their advantage.

Suppose they capture a SG team. They will interrogate them to determine the defenses around the SGC’s Stargate and develop a plan of attack. Such a plan would like revolve around using a captured GDO to get the SGC to open the iris. The next step is to toss a few dozen grenades through the Stargate into the SGC. This would be followed by sappers who would kill off the remaining USAF Security teams in the Gate Room. The sappers would then use explosives to destroy the Gate Room doors. Meanwhile, SS troops would be coming in through the Stargate and preparing to rush into the base. Their first objective would be to secure control of the Stargate dialing computer. Once that is secure, they can attack the rest of Cheyenne Mountain and establish a secure base of operations on Earth.

And you thought Anubis was scary.


References

Dirty Little Secrets of World War II by James Dunnigan and Albert Nofi (Quill, ISBN 0-688-12288-4). Filled with little known information about WWII.

Gateworld.net (www.gateworld.net). Reviews, episode guides, and various facts about Stargate.

GURPS: WWII: Weird War II by Kenneth Hite with William Stoddard (Steve Jackson Games, ISBN 1-55634-661-1). The most unusual aspects of WWII in a format useful for gaming.

Suppressed Transmission the First Broadcast by Kenneth Hite (Steve Jackson Games, ISBN 1-55634-423-6). Plenty of campaign ideas, adventure seeds, and other gaming weirdness.

Painting By Numbers - Reaper Bones Well of Chaos

Just an innocent looking well.

This is the Well of Chaos (77136), one of many miniatures I received as a reward for backing the first Reaper Bones Kickstarter. The Well of Chaos represents some kind of font holding holy or unholy water from some god, goddess, or weird alien thing worshiped by hooded cultists. Any resemblance to an ornate toilet belonging to somebody with more money than sense is purely in the eye of the viewer.

As with my previous attempts to work with Reaper Bones plastic, I decided to experiment with an alternate technique for priming and painting this piece. A post on the Reaper forums titled "The First Coat is the Difference" recommended using FolkArt's Glass and Tile Medium as a primer after cleaning the miniature. The main issue with Glass and Tile Medium is that it is completely clear. It is very hard to tell if the miniature is completely coated while applying the Medium. The solution is to mix the Medium with acrylic paint to make it opaque. Any color will do, but I used black paint to allow the mix to act as both primer and a base coat.

Over the black base coat went a layer of dark gray on the stone parts of the well. I was careful not to completely cover the base coat to bring out the cracks in the stone. A layer of brown went on the parts of the well I was planning on painting gold. Brown works well under gold - it adds a little depth since metallic paints are sometimes translucent and the two colors do not contrast or "fight" with each other.

Light gray was used to highlight the stone parts. A layer of metallic gold went on the metal parts.

A purple wash was applied to the stone parts to convey an otherworldly aspect to the well. Descriptions of strange statues in fantasy sometimes note an odd hue to the material used to make them.

Totally not suspicious. Just walk right up and get a drink!

The inside of the font was painted blue to convey depth. A small amount of Woodland Scenics Realistic Water was used to produce a shiny surface. I was originally going to use a thinner layer of Realistic Water, but the process of poring it proved a little trickier than I expected. Using Realistic Water was also an experiment on my part. I had no previous experience with the stuff and I have a future project that may need it.

Overall, I am pleased with how the Well and how it turned out. Some of the detail on the miniature could be sharper, especially in the areas depicting metal pieces. Using FolkArt's Glass and Tile Medium resulted in a durable surface that holds paint well. Mixing the Medium with a little paint allowed me to combine the priming and base coating steps. This is definitely the way I'm planning on preparing the vast numbers of Reaper Bones miniatures remaining in my collection.

Happy Seppuku Base Texture Stamp

Happy Seppuku Model Works is a company out of Washington state that makes soft rubber stamps for use on miniature bases. The stamps are used to apply texture to putty (green stuff, milliput, etc.) placed on a miniature base. Once the putty sets, the visual effect is similar to a resin or metal sculpted base. Last year, Happy Seppuku ran a Kickstarter to finance an expansion of their operation. The reward for backing that Kickstarter at the $25 level was a sample stamp with four textures on it - Flagstone, Narrow Wood, Random Steel Plate, and Mass Grave (a Kickstarter exclusive).

In this post, I'll be playing around with the Kickstarter sample stamp and the putty supplied with it. Note that process described below goes only as far as texturing the base. I don't have painted examples of miniatures on Happy Seppuku textured bases at this time. A neck and shoulder injury took me away from the workbench for the past few months and I'm only now getting back to fighting the mountain of metal, plastic, and resin that I've acquired.

Step One - Taping Up the Base:

Note to self: Don't forget to cut away the excess tape.

The Kickstarter sample stamp came with some 30mm round slotted bases with raised edges. The edges keep the putty that holds the texture in place. The putty can still flow over the edges if too much is used. It can also escape through the slot while applying pressure to the stamp. Either can cause the texture to deform. Applying tape to the slot prevents the putty from escaping.

Step Two - Applying the Putty

Flattening out the putty might help later on, but I didn't think of it in time.

Next is simply forming some putty into a ball and placing it on the base. I'm not sure what kind of putty was supplied with the Kickstarter sample stamp. It holds together and retains the texture well, but it is very sticky. Some experimentation with other kinds of putty may happen down the road.

Step Three - Texturing

See the water on the stamp? A little too much.

This is the fun and tricky part. Just push the stamp down on the base and leave an impression of the texture on the putty. The stamp is made from a soft, flexible rubber that can be pushed into the raised edges of the bases. The tricky part is separating the stamp and the putty cleanly. Applying some water on the putty and the stamp helps with separation, but too much water can soften the putty to the point where its ability to retain the texture is effected. All of the bases seen here have the Random Steel Plate texture applied to them.

Step Four - Footprinting

Like the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, but smaller.

While the putty is still soft, push the figure's feet slightly into the putty. This increases the surface area when the figure is later glued to the hardened putty.

Opinions

A word of warning: The stamp I received had a very strong "rubber" odor when it was fresh out of the package. It was sentenced to a brief exile out in the garage while the material out-gassed. It's fine now, but those with a sharp sense of smell or live with those who do should be advised.

The texture applied by the stamp is fairly sharp and defined, but is limited by the nature of the product. Putting extremely fine details on a soft rubber stamp might make it too delicate to survive extended use. Some of the base inserts currently on the market will have more detail. On the other hand, the cost difference between a blob of putty and the more expensive resin inserts adds up quickly. The Happy Seppuku stamp textures might not be detailed enough for a carefully painted display piece, but is certainly cost effective for a tabletop level model.

Disabled Mech - Hyper Armored Block HAB-0003 T-Rex

Figure and package. I'll explain why the figure is in pieces further down.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I try to avoid negative reviews on this blog. I do as much research as possible to avoid wasting my money on a poor product and your time reading me venting out my frustration. Still, there are times when I can't resist what seems to be a sweet deal and buying something without taking a close look at it. Sometimes it works out, but this time it didn't. I know it is easy to take shots at someone else's mistakes, but I can't just ignore poor products or service.

I picked up this figure awhile back for use as a scale-independent mecha. The scale on the package is 1/48, which works nicely with 28mm as a "walking tank" mecha. The lack of details that give away the scale - cockpit windows or access hatches - means that it also works in 15mm as a large "city wrecker" mecha. It looks like a menacing hulk of a machine in either scale. There is a vague dinosaur feel to its appearance that doesn't come through in photographs.

Unfortunately, I ran into a couple of issues that will make putting this figure on the table problematic.

Left side details. Note the dinosaur-like head and damaged shoulder joint.

First is stability. The legs are much thinner than the promotional photos suggest. Worse, the feet are tiny compared to the rest of the figure. More robust legs would move the center of gravity down for better balance. Bigger feet would give the figure a more stable base to stand on.

Finding a balanced pose for this figure is challenging. The articulation allows for a variety of poses, but the lack of stability allows for only a couple of poses that won't fall over. I could get it to stand up straight and I could get it to lean over ever so slightly. Nothing else was stable enough to stay upright long enough to be useful on the tabletop or as a display piece.

Which leads me to the second issue - when it decided to take a walk off my desk. The day before I was going to take some pictures and write a post on this product, I found it on the floor near my work desk. My usual suspect would be one of the cats. However, given how I couldn't trust the figure to stay upright in a balanced pose on its display stand, this is not really fair to the cats. Bear in mind, this was a two foot and change drop onto a carpeted floor.

And here is the major weakness of this product - the plastic joints. They are plastic pins molded onto a ball joint that provides the movement needed to pose the figure. The pins slot into the limbs and body. After the fall, two of the pins sheared off. Now, there is a replacement joint in the box for the smaller of the two broken joints. However, the larger one is a knee joint and a replacement is not provided in the box.

A mecha missing a leg is a little awkward.

Detail of the damaged knee joint. No arrows were involved.

I contacted the manufacturer, Yamato Toys, to ask about ordering replacement parts. I have received no response.

At the moment, I have two options: repair the figure or try to use it as is. Repairing the figure would involve pinning the pieces back together. However, the drilling looks tricky. The plastic pins are very small. Drilling out holes for metal pins would be challenging. Worse, the plastic ball joints are not solid pieces. They look like they might fall apart if I try drilling into them.

On the other hand, I could just use the figure in a terrain piece or objective marker. This is a much more limited use of the figure than I had in mind when I purchased it.

I brought this product on sale for less than $20 USD (including shipping). Even so, I am disappointed with it. I just don't feel that this is worth even the reduced price I paid for it.

D&D Sources Reading Project: Conan the Cimmerian

I gave myself a little reading project awhile back. Gamemastering fantasy RPGs was getting stale for me. Now, don't get me wrong, poking fun at the relevant troupes is always fun: "Of course the treasure is in a dungeon inhabited by monsters with nothing better to do than wait for your characters to show up and murder them! What other use is there for piles of coins and magic items?" Updating old classics for new players and game systems is a delight: "No, there is no connection between that 1980s-era AD&D module sitting on my desk and the next game session." And setting miniatures like this guy on the table and seeing my players' reactions still brings me joy. But the process of running a fantasy campaign was feeling empty. It lacked heart.

The solution? Seek inspiration. In this case, reading through some of the works that influenced early Dungeons & Dragons. Please understand that I'm not reading every single book and story of every author cited by Gary Gygax in Annex N of the Dungeon Masters Guide. What I am doing is sampling enough of each source to get a feel for it and moving on. For example, I might read a book or three of a given series, but not the entire run. I can always come back to it later. Also, I am not reading Lord of the Rings again. At least, not this year.

It has been an illuminating experience so far. The links between Robert E. Howard's Conan stories and early Dungeons & Dragons became more obvious as I was reading through them. There is a certain feel that Gygax was trying to invoke, but I only had a vague sense of what it was from reading the Dungeon Masters Guide and his notes in early modules. Now I feel closer to understanding what he was going for.

Disclaimer

Robert E. Howard wrote the original Conan stories between 1932 and 1936. These are products of their time. Positive race relations, cultural sensitivity, and enlightened perspectives on gender equality are NOT things to be found in these stories. Robert E. Howard was a prejudiced man writing for prejudiced editors.

Some might not agree with this disclaimer. I feel that it is an important point to acknowledge.

The Feel of the Stories

I enjoy modern fantasy literature, but it has flaws. Some of it places so much emphasis on world building that the people and what they do in those worlds gets lost in the setting descriptions. On the other hand, strong stories with characters worth paying attention to tend toward a dark and cynical tone. Reading the Conan stories was a breath of fresh air. They are straightforward adventures with Conan solving the situation at hand by cheerfully murdering everyone that gets in his way. There is irony in these stories, but it is not heavy handed. In fact, there is very little to drag down these stories. They have a raw energy that sweeps the reader through them.

Conan's image

The standard visual representation of Conan shows him wearing nothing but a loincloth and boots while he pays scarce attention the nearly- or completely-naked young woman clinging to him for dear life. Now, this is not completely wrong. There are occasions in the stories where Conan ends up looking like this, but never by choice. As a mercenary, he equipped himself with the best armor he could afford. He had no issues with wearing comfortable silk shirts and pants as a pirate or outlands bandit. As a king, he donned plate armor appropriate to his status. Only in desperate circumstances did Conan appear as his is commonly depicted.

In terms of personality, the Conan of these stories is more intelligent and articulate than his portrayals in other media suggest. He speaks and reads several languages, out thinks far more educated opponents, quickly establishes dominance in hostile groups before taking them over, puzzles out an ancient text without assistance, and routinely reasons his way out of situations. These are not the actions of a fool blindly charging into deadly encounters and getting by with nothing but brute strength (although he has plenty of that to call on). Likewise, Conan's speech is direct and to the point, but he is no moron grunting out monosyllabic responses.

Oh, and the nearly- or completely-naked young women? Robert E. Howard was writing for publications that expected female characters to have some kind of allergy to clothing. Most of the women in the Conan stories matched Robert E. Howard's own views on sexual attractiveness. Some had active roles, but many served only as romantic interests and damsels in distress. Most were also unwilling to resist Conan's charms and ended up clinging to Conan's muscular frame at some point. To Conan's credit, he does make an effort to find some clothes for his lady friends... eventually.

Conan as Adventurer

Conan had a long and varied career, starting off alone as an untutored barbarian from the north and ending up as a respected king ruling with the loyalty of his people. Along the way, he was a soldier of fortune, a pirate captain, a mercenary officer, a bandit leader, and was not above the odd bit of thievery or occasional con job. Even the notion of exploring ancient ruins for treasure was not foreign to him. It's easy to see how he could have inspired any number of characters and adventures for early roleplayers.

He even embodies the mercenary approach taken by some player characters to this day. Conan is not the selfless hero of an epic fantasy. Hand him a ring with instructions to toss it into a volcano and he is going to want to know why and how much he is going to be paid for it. He expects to profit from his efforts, either through a generous reward or helping himself to whatever he comes across. This is echoed by the notion that adventurers get to keep whatever is found in a dungeon without question or taxation.

Still, Conan is not an anti-hero consumed by self-interest. He does help others even when he has nothing in particular to gain. Of course, he is more likely to render aid if the person needing his help is an attractive young woman with "a supple waist" and a fair complexion.

Conan's motivation to help others grows as he assumes roles that give him responsibilities over others. As a pirate or mercenary captain, he watches over his men as long as they remain loyal. As a king, he looks after his subjects even after he is disposed. There are similarities here with the progression of an early AD&D fighter as he gains followers and duties to those followers.

Conan and the Barbarian Class

Curiously, the Barbarian class that first appeared in AD&D's Unearthed Arcana was modeled on Conan, but he is not a good fit for it. The stories do not depict a raging, bare-chested berserker harboring serious issues with anyone using magic. As mentioned above, he prefers to wear armor in combat and keeps a cool enough head to think tactically. Conan is prone to losing his temper, but something really needs to press his buttons for him to completely lose control. And while he is suspicious of magic, he is willing to ally with those who use magic without making an issue of it. If anything, the Barbarian class is a parody of Conan.

Conan and the Mechanics of Gaming

Conan's fondness for the good life has been modeled as a way to relieve player characters of their excess wealth. He often starts a story flat broke after parting with his coins a little too freely. This neatly sets him up for the next adventure as a new opportunity to score some cash falls into his lap. This is a good motivator for player characters who are fond of hearty food, strong drink, and women of negotiable virtue.

His varied career is difficult to model with a skill system. Spending points or slots on a list of specific skills is a poor way to reflect the wealth of previous experiences that Conan regularly draws on in the stories. He knows how to run a ship and an army. He picked up a diverse range of languages during his travels. He is knowledgeable about histories of the lands he travels through to the point of identifying the pelts of extinct animals. Something like 13th Age's background system is better suited to reflect the knowledge of someone like Conan.

Final Thoughts

Overall, reading through one of the influences behind Dungeons & Dragons has rekindled my interest in gamemastering fantasy. I have some fresh ideas that I am looking forward to developing. Even if it did not inspire me as much as it does, it would have still be worthwhile to see how this particular source influenced the hobby.

Workbench #9 - Lighting Up the Reaper Bones Large Fire Elemental

"Sam" the Sorceress forgets some wise advice: "Never summon anything bigger than your head."

Introduction:

This is my take on lighting up a Reaper Bones Large Fire Elemental (77082) with an LED tea light. The intended effect is a flickering light shining up through the translucent plastic from the base. The light defuses through the figure and creates the illusion of flame. The challenge is working with the size and shape of the tea light.

LED tea light, unmodified.

My inspiration was Chris Palmer's project presented at his blog All Bones About It. I had different goals for my project, so I took some different approaches. That stated, I couldn't have gone forward without his example.

Design decisions:

The main challenge of this project is what to do with the LED tea light. It is not wide enough by itself to serve as a base for the Large Fire Elemental - the figure overhangs it in an unsightly fashion. The LED tea light is also over half an inch tall - a little conspicuous for a base.

After some thought, I decided against Chris Palmer's solution. His method was to modify a large plastic base to accept the LED light and battery assembly from the tea light. He then used putty to build up the base to conceal the LED assembly and support the figure. This technique, which is perfectly valid and produced a good looking result, did not appeal to me due to its complexity. I also wanted to be able to easily remove and replace the LED assembly when needed. This meant that I had to keep as much of the LED tea light intact as possible.

LED / battery assembly removed for replacement. Note the threading that the assembly screws into.

I ended up solving the issues involved by covering them up with a big chunk of plastic. A 60mm round base from Games Workshop, to be specific. Placed on top of the LED tea light, it is wide enough to accommodate the figure while disguising the LED tea light just enough not to be obvious.

It was at this stage that I decided not to paint the figure. This was a purely aesthetic choice on my part. I'm just not sold on how painted translucent Bones figures look.

Construction / Basing:

Step 1: Remove the plastic "flame" over the LED light to reduce the size of the holes I would need to drill in step 2.

LED tea light disassembled. Note the plastic cover (left top), the LED / battery assembly (right), and the plastic "flame" (left bottom.

Step 2: Drilled holes in the figure and the GW base.

Holes drilled in base and figure.

Step 3: Removed the plastic moldings under the GW base to provide a smooth surface to attach the LED tea light.

Unmodified 60mm base. Anybody know what those plastic moldings are for?

Step 4: Primed the GW base and the LED tea light (after removing the LED light / battery piece).

Step 5: Glued the tea light, base, and figure together. I took care that everything was aligned to allow the LED to poke through into the base and into the hole drilled into the figure.

Alignment after assembly and painting. Note the switch on the bottom.

Step 6: Painted the edge of the base and LED tea light black.

Step 7: Glued sand on base with a mix of tacky glue, brown craft paint, and water. Waited for basing sand to dry. Drybrushed linen craft paint on sand. Painted sand around the Large Fire Elemental black to represent burnt soil. Drybrushed grey craft paint on to black areas to represent ash.

Finished product, unlit.

Results:

Overall, I'm pleased with the end result. The effect is distinctive, even if it is a little bit of a gimmick. Disguising the LED tea light by covering it up and painting it black keeps the viewer's attention on the figure.

Who's up for barbecue?

Now I just need to wait until I run my next dungeon crawl game. I'm sure that my players will be suitably impressed when this thing hits the table. :)

On Collecting Boardgames

I realized that my board game collection hit a stopping point when I ran out of space in the hall closet to store them. (No, devoting more space to board games is not an option.) The rate that I've been acquiring board games has slowed from the frenetic pace of a couple of years ago. I no longer pick up a new board game every month, but one every few months or so. Maybe. If it's on sale. In any case, a new game has to fill a new niche in the collection to justify the purchase. If a game does something that one I already own does better, why bother? This reasoning has slowed the growth of my collection, since it already covers a variety of niches.

Below is my current "working" collection of board games. It does not count games packed away in storage or miniature wargames.

• 7 Wonders
• 7 Wonders: Cities
• 7 Wonders: Leaders
• Arkham Horror
• Battlestar Galactica
• Bohnanza
• Nexus Ops
• Pandemic
• Pandemic: On the Brink
• The Resistance
• Small World
• Survive: Escape from Atlantis!

It is a relatively small collection, but it covers a range of game mechanics and themes.

There are some specific things I tend to look for in board games. How well a game does in these areas tends to outweigh all other considerations except for price. I have not yet broken the $100 mark when purchasing a board game and that is not likely to change.

Engaging game play. A new game has to present an interesting and novel challenge. 7 Wonders offers deck building with a civilization building theme. It does those things well enough for me not to go looking for another game to fill those roles.

Play time. My group typically plays on week nights. We also like to finish games. A game that can be completed in 1 - 2 hours or less will get played more than a 4+ hour marathon game that we might have to abandon midway through. In other words, Bohnanza and The Resistance hit the table more often than Battlestar Galactica.

Theme. I would have rated this much higher at one point, but the tastes of my group are a more flexible than I once thought. There is still a preference for games with a strong tactical, sci-fi, or fantasy theme. However, Bohnanza won everyone over with its simple rules, trading mechanic, quick play time, and competitive play. Introducing Arkham Horror to a group with no other Lovecraft fans was risky, but the games sold itself on its own merits during the times we played it. The length of Arkham Horror has placed it firmly in the "special occasions" category, though.

Looking at the hall closet, I think I can squeeze in a couple more games if I rearrange things. The last game I got was Nexus Ops, which filled the Risk / Axis & Allies combat game niche. I guess I'll have to go over some reviews to figure out what to get next. Been hearing good things about King of Toyko and Flashpoint: Fire Rescue...