What's next for Privateer Press?

So there has been something brewing over at Privateer Press within the last week or so.  It started with David "DC" Carl mentioning in a Privateer Press Insider post that he wishes he could share what's going on behind the scenes and then on Monday, Tony Konichek shared his trip to Europe where he received the request from the creative and art directors to draw some sketches of the architecture for "Iron Kingdoms reference."  Surely, this could be considered totally innocuous but Privateer Press loves teasing their community and, like I said, DC has already told us that something is going on behind the scenes and Privateer Press has never been known for sitting on their hands.  No, indeed this past year not only did they outdo their past years by releasing Colossals and Gargantuans, but they also put own a card game, a brand new board game (with new IP), created their first mobile list-building and reference app (with admittedly mixed reviews), and revived their Iron Kingdoms role-playing system (with much approval from the role-playing community).  This has me wondering: What's next for Privateer Press?

Keeping paint fresh!

After yesterday's post regarding the list for the second week of the local Warmachine League, I decided to go with Kraye and the Minutemen.  Kraye was already sitting in a vat of Simple Green, waiting to be stripped, and I had those 4 blisters of Minutemen just sitting on my table... I couldn't resist!  Besides, I think that the fast-and-loose playstyle of Kraye will be a nice change of pace and tomorrow I'll share my planned escalation for him.  That's for tomorrow, though.

Today I have a short and quick little article for you.  I want to share something cheap and easy that I do to keep my paint fresh and well-mixed.  I must admit, I was clued into this from something that Reaper paints used to do, and so I decided to modify it for my own purposes.  Now that everyone is curiously purchasing the new GW line of paints, I figured today would be a good time to share a quick and easy way of keeping your paints from drying out!

Showcase: Diorama Art Project

Day 3 of plugging the Steam-Powered Gamer Facebook page!  Not only will I be posting updates about miscellaneous Privateer Press news on the facebook page, but various photos of models or projects that aren't found here - such as what I'll be sharing with you today!

Today I actually have to share something really special: a Warhammer 40k diorama that one of my best friends made for his senior art project.  Typically I don't post anything 40k related on here, but since this was done by one of best friends and it was his senior college project, he wanted me to share it so that people could enjoy his work.  Also, I must claim some credit for the project.  When he was torn about what he wanted to do for a senior project as an art major, I convinced him that he should really do what he loves most: 40k!  Not only was it a great display of artistic skill, but it also gave him a great excuse to paint up a bunch of models that he could play with later (which he did).

A Simple Buccaneer Conversion

I don't remember where I saw it, but a while back I saw a simple idea for a conversion for the Buccaneer warjack.  Seeing as I really love these warjacks and one is an important part of my Fiona list, I figured it was worth attempting myself.  This was a fairly simple conversion in theory, so I wanted to take a stab at it and see if it was as easy as it looked.  The idea is simple: use the top of Fiona's trident and do a swap with the head of the Buccaneer gaff pole!  Here's my attempt at it.

Showcase: Fiona and Taryn di la Rovissi

 It takes me a long time to get models painted.  It's not that I'm a slow painter.  In fact, I think that I paint models fairly quickly.  No, it's that I am obsessive about finishing the model and since that takes around 3-5 hours, and I have a job that consumes most of my time, that means that even when I get bit by the painting bug, I still can only get a couple of models done per week.  Last weekend I was inspired by my recent successes with Fiona the Black and I decided that I should just sit down and get painting.  The most daunting part for me, was trying to nail down a paint scheme.  Why was this so difficult?  It's because I have such a hodge-podge of models that I use with my Mercenaries, including the recent addition of the pSkarre theme list.  This means that I want my models to blend with Cryx, but I also want them to make sense if I want to play the Highborn Covenant mercenary contract.  This left me with some difficult decisions for my palette, but ultimately I decided to use two of my favorite colors: purple and green, accented by white.

Building a Game Table on the cheap

Yesterday I was really excited at the thought of using a sandbox as a table for playing a game of Warmachine/Hordes, the impetus behind said thought was that I figured that I would write an article about making a table as cheaply as possible as a general guide for those who might want to make a table for home use, or if you wanted to make one for a game store or club.  Today I will present you with some common tips that I have discovered to make the best table possible for really cheap, with some money saving tips along the way.

Disclaimer: while I have not built any tables the ways that I am describing, I have built tables more complex than this, and these are rather my general suggestions based on my experiences with more complex tables.

Road to Templecon 2012: Display Board

One of the project that has been lurking in the back of my apartment is putting together a tournament Display Board for my Circle army.  I gathered the materials for this project way back in October, but at various points since then I have either been distracted by other things (DAMN YOU SKYRIM!) or I was missing something that I needed to get to the next step.  Well I have good news for you all: I have finished my display board!

Templecon 2012 Scenario Table - Finished!

 It's taken some time, but it's finally finished!  The scenario table is done!  All that is left to do is some final touch-ups and it will be ready for playtesting.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves, as the girlfriend and I are very pleased with how it looks.  See for yourself!

Templecon 2012 Scenario Table - Painting

I apologize for the lack of an update yesterday.  The work on the table has been constant and productive and I lost track time.  I do have some more pictures today of the table, and we should be finished in time for the Thursday deadline, at which point I will bring the table to the LGS so that people can play the scenario. For now, here are the photos of some of the painted pieces to hopefully get you as excited as I am!  I apologize for the pictures, as I don't have my usual software here to fix up the photos better.

Templecon 2012 Scenario Table - Structures!

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas, and I hope all of you Jewish folk enjoy the rest of Hannukah.  Personally, I had a great Christmas, as my girlfriend gave me a Vallejo 72-color paint set with case (!).  Meanwhile, at SPG we've been busy at work on the scenario table for Templecon 2012!  The graveyard (as of yet unnamed) has been progressing nicely and today I have some teaser pictures to share with you about our progress thus far.  The current deadline is Thursday this week, so that it can be transported to the LGS for playtesting, and it looks like we are following along according to schedule.  Take a look!

Templecon 2012 Scenario Table - Genesis

In the beginning there was nothing.  The foam was shapeless and void, lacking in any detail or meaning.

Work on the scenario table for Templecon 2012 has begun!  My girflriend and I have begun work on what is being tentatively called the "Graverobbers" scenario table.  Most of all of the materials have finally been gathered and work began in earnest last evening with the purchase of the foam necessary to create the surface onto which the rest of the details will be placed.  I have some pictures to show you all of how the project is progressing but first let's list the materials used in this project so you can follow along:

Scenario Table!

So I've been keeping this news pretty close to the chest for a while to make sure that it was actually going to turn into a reality first: my girlfriend and I will be making a scenario table for Templecon!  If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain.  At Templecon, in addition to all of the tournaments that are going on, there will be a collection of various independently-crafted tables.  Each table will have a unique scenario for it, and you can earn bonus Iron Arena points if you play on different scenario tables.  An example of one of these scenario tables is called Low Tide and it was made by a local PG Lonelymonk.  Here are some pictures of me playing on it:

Hobby: Really easy-to-make templates!

If you play Warmachine/Hordes often enough, you might find that you need a lot of different kind of templates that might not necessarily be provided.  I'm not talking about blast or spray templates, but AOEs that will need to stay in play for at least a turn.  For example, I love playing Circle and we have Druids which can put down a 3" AOE that's a cloud effect.  Similarly, if you play with Cygnar Trenchers, you might use their smoke bombs for similar effect.  Even if you don't use smoke templates, if you're playing with or against Warmachine, you'll need some kind of wreck marker to represent a wrecked warjack.  Well, my friends, I'm here to show you a stupidly easy way of making your own templates!

Warmachine Table Part 3: The Colors of the Wind

The Colors of the Wind

He was pleased at how the battlefield was taking shape.  Every stone was in its place, the grooves in the earth were ready to be filled with flowing water.  "Wait!  I'm getting ahead of myself, the waters have no color!"  The general realized that his battlefield was lifeless and lacked the color it deserved.  "Time to get painting!"

Showcase: Two Player Box

I received the Two Player Box for a couple days now but I've been waiting until I got home to open it up and see what's inside.  I am not disappointed!  There is TONS of stuff in this box, and certainly well worth the $100 retail pricetag.  Even though other starter boxes or other games (like the Isle of Blood or Battle for Black Reach) have more models, Privateer Press made sure that this box provides everything you need to get into the whole hobby, and not just the game.  Anyway, instead of writing 15,000 words, I'll just give you 15 pictures (that's what they're worth, right?):

Warmachine Table Part 2: Stones of the Earth

I apologize for not writing for a couple of days.  I have been similarly affected by the massive power outage which is currently plaguing the US East Coast.  Fortunately, I'm staying with my girlfriend in Boston while I wait for power to return to my school, but I have been busy playing games instead of writing blog posts.  So hooray for that, at least!  Today we will return to our regularly scheduled blog with the second part about my making my Warmachine table!

Clay and Sand

This is where we left off last time

The general plotted and planned how he would use the natural terrain to his advantage.  "The battle will soon be upon us and we need to prepare the earthen battlements!"  He ventured out from his headquarters to survey his environment, connecting himself with the Earth.  "Aha!" he exclaimed, "I have found exactly what I need!"

Warmachine Table Part 1: The Fire of the Forge

I recently realized that it has been one year since I decided to create my own 4'x4' Warmachine/Hordes table.  Realistically, I guess the table better suits Hordes, but since both systems can play against each other, I guess the point is moot.

When I started the project, I decided to photo-document the whole project last year back in October.   I realized this fall (after the craziness of moving) that I never really finished the table.  I will be finishing the table by the end of this month, and so I figured that I would chronicle the project with a series of blogs from the beginning until the end.  There will be four entries, each corresponding to the four primal elements: Fire, Earth, Air, and Water.  Let's start with Part 1: The Fire of the Forge