The Ork Dreadnought!

 

So, waaayyy back before I started building things for the Cauldron event, I had the urge to work on scratch-building an Ork Dreadnought. I know they've gone by various names- Killa Kan, etc, but the ones that really appealed to me are the very old ones from early editions of 40k. I've been building a bunch of roughly 40k-ish Ork stuff over the past few years- go back on my instagram and there are some trucks, a motorcycle, etc. I do eventually want to play a game with these things (Gorkamorka, Rogue Trader, maybe just OPR Grimdark Future), but I've mostly just been building them on and off. Ork stuff is fun to build because it's deliberately kludged together and kind of scrappy and messy. It works well with my approach to kitbashing and scratch building, and since I'm generally an orc and goblin loyalist across fantasy and sci-fi, it made sense to just keep building stuff. I have a good selection of space orks for Space Gits an any other purpose you can imagine, so why not keep building stuff. 

I've mentioned my DIY ethos in other posts, but there are a few reasons behind it. One, this hobby is ludicrously expensive if you just buy things, especially seeking out old models. Right now that's not in the cards for me. Second, I think creating stuff within constraints is both fun and meaningful. I try to hold onto this in my art practice as well, but it's fun to say- let's build a dreadnought and spend exactly $0 on it. I'm lucky to have an extensive shop, some light machine tools, and a kind of infinite amount of scrappy materials/hardware/etc.. and I've accumulated enough model bits from kits etc. that I feel pretty well equipped to do these goofy scratch builds. And I know I'll care a lot more about it (and feel freer while doing making it) if I work from scratch. Spending money makes me precious with models and materials- and this is the opposite of that approach. 

This guy started out with a variety of components. The claw and part of the gun are Ramshackle Games bits I've had. The ork head is from Spellcrow, and the arm with cigar came with my Space Gits Kickstarter. The torso is from Mantic Games (I don't love their stuff, but I have a lot of their Space Orc Commando parts). The real fun is in the body of the thing. 

The body is a piece of PVC pipe, turned down on my lathe to add some ridges and details. The legs are made from some oddball Molex type connectors sourced from Ax-Man Surplus in St. Paul, MN. 

Sidebar- if you ever find yourself in the Twin Cities, go visit Ax-Man. I went there on a field trip during my first ever sculpture class along with my dear friend Andy (Whalehazard Guitars among many other awesome things.) Whenever I'm back in the Cities, I insist on Andy driving me to Ax-Man and perusing in great detail. Everything is on offer, from glassware monogramed for other people's weddings to a baffling selection of electronic components, dental tools, strange knockoff toys, and an aisle labeled Realm of Tape. Go visit. It will change your life. 

The guns and feet and the missile rack are all made from crimp-style wire splices and spade terminals I've been hauling around forever. One of the great joys of bashing is just looking at an object and saying what could this be? 

The hatch is turned down from acrylic, and the armor is some plastic card stuff, pinned in place with quilting pins for rivets. What a joyful undertaking. I made this nightmare mutant mass of power arms and Ettin heads, and I got as far as painting it before I decided it felt like it didn't fit, and replaced it with a giant axe. 

Then this thing basically sat on the back of my work table for two months while I cranked out everything for the Cauldron event. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago and went after the painting in earnest. 

And there it is! Perhaps I should refine my sci-fi photo setup a bit, but I'm pretty happy with this monstrosity. Banners like this are always particularly fun. So the hobby table is weirdly empty at the moment... debating my next move, but it might be a circular 1490 Doom board. Thanks for reading and stay tuned! 

An eclectic weekend of hobby undertakings

 I took a bit of a break from hobby work after the Cauldron event- it was nice to step back and do some regular studio work and a couple long bike rides. But- Labor Day weekend turned out to be all over the place with hobby endeavors in a pretty fun way. Philly Indie Tabletop met on the Monday, and folks wanted to play TWO new games I've never played- Gaslands and 1490 Doom. Both require pretty minimal preparation of miniatures, so I decided to knock out a car for Gaslands and a three-mini Doom Company for 1490 Doom. 

I admit I was working fast and had not read the Gaslands rules. I knew I had this little police van kicking around in my bits cabinet, but that's the only small car I had. So I just went for it. 

Sprayed them gold because I had leftover gold from the Cauldron tokens. Then all the washes and drybrushing I could handle. 

It came out great, including the Perry Napoleonic driver with a chainsword. BUT- then I got to the table and realized this van is WAY TOO BIG to fit along with Matchbox cars. 

Case in point. I ran it as a School Bus (Dr. Frazzle's Manic Schoolbus), which meant it could be loaded out with all manner of silly weapons- caltrop dropper, flamethrower, etc. 

The schoolbus quickly became a target, though, and despite 20 Hull Points it got knocked around pretty hard. I enjoyed Gaslands but we played with 6 players- so a bit slower than I'd hope. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to play 1490 Doom, but that's next on the list. 

Pretty happy with this little Doom Company though. Mostly Perry bits leftover from building my Turnip army, some mysterious helmets and the central one is a Ramshackle Games helmet. I usually go for a more riotous color approach, but off white, red and tan looked really good for these guys. Left to right- a Saboteur, a Beekeeper, and a Scavenger. Very excited to try this game out soon!

AANDD... just for good measure one more hobby project this weekend. Until yesterday I'd just kept my paints in little rows on my work table. Kind of crazy. Plus I would set some of them upside down when they got empty, and eventually that would cause an avalanche of falling paint bottles... which drove me crazy. Happily I live above my woodshop, so it was time to address this issue. 

I had a weird little slab of oak I'd been hauling around for years that I decided to use for the back panel. The shelves are maple. After some fiddling around I realized I could drill a small hole in the middle of each larger hole, and that would let me put paint bottles upside down without them falling over. 

This seemed like a nice solution. A little sanding, then glue up and a coat of oil. 

LOOK AT ALL THAT TABLE SPACE! What a revelation! I find little projects like this extremely satisfying. Now it's finally time to finish that scratch-built ork dreadnought I started before the Cauldron event (that's the bits in the foreground). Planning on sharing a detailed build log of that project soon. Thanks for reading, and apologies that this post is a bit scattered... I think I'm trying to frantically cram in hobby time before the school year starts up again. 

The Day Itself! Playing the Mass in the Cauldron

 

Photos by @michaelcwiatrak_art

Well the day finally came! Yesterday we played The Mass in the Cauldron at Top Deck Games in West Philly. Ten players came with their freshest and stinkiest little greenskins (a flexible term, warbands included bears, cyborg orcs on nightmare beasts, cute hooded frog people, and some spectacular spider-riders) and clashed across four games of Cauldron, mutating, foraging, and finding fantastic relics along the way. I am still somewhat dazed after the event, but absolutely thrilled with how it all went. We had folks make the long journey from all over Philly and Jersey and the suburbs, and everyone stuck through all four games until the big finish! 

The calm before the storm

With ten players, we paired up in two games of two and two of three across the four boards. Thankfully Dellon (@whitetigertablecraft) though to add more treasure tokens for the boards with three players. I can only speak to the games that I played in (though I got tidbits from other players) but it really seemed that people were immersed and engaged in the whole undertaking right off the bat. The first game was designed to start a little more slowly, with rolls for special events only on Rounds 3 and 4, and a more generous selection of treasure tokens. Matt (@ierthling) brought his Frog Spam List (and very generously, frog minis for everyone he managed to turn into a frog) and did manage to turn my hero (Tuggles McSpink) into a frog and then kill him in the first game, though thankfully Tuggles made a Full Recovery after the game. 

Warbands started picking up mutations quickly, but as expected the Mass remained treacherous. I wrote a d12 check every time a model moved on the mass- after an initial move, the rule was just 'don't roll a 1'- but the rule added a lot of drama, as models would get quite high up on the Mass, and consequently face a lot of potential falling damage, if they rolled a 1... and this happened more than one might expect. I had my Beast (Wee Little Snax) and Troll (Dongle the Tongue) both fall off the Mass in Game 3. Snax died and dropped a treasure, which Dongle was happily able to grab in the aftermath. 

In Games 2 and 3, the Events started to really come into effect- sphincter-like holes opened in the Mass, swallowing up models and spitting them out mutated, or the whispering wind causing players to lose control of most of their warband for the rest of the game, or extra Creatures of the Mass emerging to defend it from the greedy invaders clambering all over it. Part of me wondered whether losing control of many characters was Not Fun for the folks who ran into it, but it seems everyone took it in stride. 

I also have to say I'm thrilled with how the custom Mutation, Foraging and Treasure tables played out. Players got very into foraging, finding tidbits like a Notorious Nugget (yum), a Throwable Hole, or a Hot Rock (read- radioactive) and Mass Moss. More of the sci-fi treasures started appearing- the Ray Gun, Jump Boots (which some characters had along with the Telekinesis mutation, making for a potent flying threat), or the Turbo Suction Device. 

Also huge thanks to Matt for being willing to do all the experience math and pair players- my brain was simply not up to the task after a few games of Cauldron! 

For the dramatic denouement, we paired all ten players into teams of two. Each team selected two models for the final game. We gathered around the highest board. From the mists of the Cauldron a strange building emerged- blue, tall, and covered with glowing signs for fast-food establishments. (If you go a little ways back on my IG, you'll recognize this building from my  Wanted! Reward 10,000 CR.  board (which is truly a spectacular game, go play it please)). 

Another day-of bit of brilliance was insisting on team names for the final game- we had Team Jump Boots, and Ray Liotta Fanboyz (both models had a Ray Gun) and a few other really great ones. The final game (Race for the Mushroom) was a struggle to get from ground level to the Interdimensional Mushroom token atop the Bizztro Eleganzza restaurant on the Mass. Since players had this very specific goal in mind, there was some strategic selection of models (biased toward speed, Jump Boots, and telekinesis)

The Mushroom atop the Bizztro

The game ended up delightfully unpredictable, with the Mass shaking off many of the models at one point, and three Autoturrets (one deployed by the bear mini) causing a variety of chaos. 

The bear deploys his Autoturret against a frog person

A spider rider clambers up the Bizztro. 

Eventually the spider rider reached the Mushroom, but failed his Brains check and was overwhelmed by the visions of the Mushroom. The Mass shook and lifted off, bearing the Bizztro into space. We paused to read off the dramatic conclusion: 

As the character’s mind struggles in the grasp of the Mushroom, they see a vision telling the story of the Mass. The Mass was lurking below the Cauldron for millennia, awaiting the moment to awaken and return to its star-brethren in the cosmos. It is one of thousands of vast cosmic beings which exist to ferry galactic fast-food establishments around the universe. Having lost its restaurant long ago in the mists of time, the Mass fell into a deep depression and fell into the Cauldron, while Bizztro Eleganzza blipped through time and space in search of its carrier. Sensing the Bizztro drawing near, the Mass awoke from its slumber. Guided by the Interdimensional Mushroom, the Bizztro returned to its rightful place. Now, it is time for the Mass to leave the Cauldron.

Playing in teams was a great way to wrap up the event (I was a husk of a person after three intense games)- thanks Matt for suggesting it. It was absolutely thrilling to see how engaged everyone was in the final game. 

The whole crew- note Jesse's Green Lung shirt (and James in a Castle Rat one too, hidden in back!)

I'm still processing the whole experience but it sure sounds like everyone had a lot of fun (I certainly did). I'm also thrilled to be part of a community of folks who'll get on board with spending an afternoon listening to my nonsense and engaging with this wild little narrative scenario I've dreamed up. Dellon and I are scheming about potentially publishing some of the scenario in future. The whole thing felt incredibly satisfying to do - having read and listened to a lot of info about narrative minis-based gaming, it was a thrill to just do it and have it succeed so well. Huge thanks to everyone who came out and played, and again to Matt for the brilliant editing and help moving the boards. I need to recover for a while, but I definitely want to do something like this again in future!

And now it's probably time to finish that scratch-built Ork Dreadnought I was working on back in June when I decided to put on this event.. that is, after I unpack and organize all the stuff from yesterday.... 

Thanks for reading and more soon! 

The Mass in the Cauldron pt. 9: Creatures of the Mass!

 As of today I'm exactly one week out from the event! Next Saturday is the big day..... so I think things are in a pretty good place in terms of preparation. The last few things are painting up a few more minis and then printing out all the packets. In the spirit of 'work with what you have,' I decided to use these absolutely brilliant Hieronymus Bosch miniatures by Andrew May. I'd backed them on Kickstarter a long time ago, and they'd been sitting unpainted, but they seem perfect for the weird, otherworldly, mutated beings I imagine inhabiting the Mass. Plus, as an art history dork, how could I possibly resist getting these? They felt too special to use for a long time, but I decided now was the moment. 

I have both sets of them (and it sounds like a 3rd set is in the works) so that's a total of 20 weird little guys. Right now I have twelve done, which is probably enough for the event itself, but I might try to jam out a few more this week while I'm in the mode of doing it. 

I'm really happy with the recipe I landed on for the bases- a strange teal housepaint I have left over, followed by black wash, then lime green, pink, and yellow drybrushing. The figures themselves get painted to a reasonable level of detail then drybrushed with ice yellow, which to my eye at least, hides many little errors and clumsy highlights underneath it. 

Very happy with how these look on the boards- I can't wait to see all of this stuff together and mixed up with a bunch of folks Cauldron warbands!