Donnybrook Puzzle 05

Donnybrook Puzzle 04

Donnybrook Puzzle 03

Donnybrook Puzzle 02

Donnybrook Puzzle 01

Donnybrook \ˈdä- nē- ˌbruk\noun, often capitalized – 1. A brawl or fracas; free-for-all, 2. A scene of chaos
Origin: A suburb of Dublin and the site of the Donnybrook Fair, an annual Irish event known for its brawls...

 
I have been very busy of late working on a new set of rules, this time as an author as well as an artist. These are based on an engine I've been using for games at my house for the last ten years and have used it with everything from Warhammer Fantasy models to 19th century Colonial adventures in Africa. The published version will be called Donnybrook and will be focused on 1660-1760, but if all goes well I could see publishing versions for other periods.

The rules are based on a card driven turn system. At a minimum, a force for a small game consists of one Character and four Units. The Character represents YOU on the table top. The Unit sizes range from four foot or three mounted models to twelve foot or nine mounted models, depending on their quality. Standard size games use six Units and large games use eight. There are eight factions to choose from - Army, Civilian Mob, Covenanters, Cultists, Highlanders, Outlaws, Rapparees, and Tribal. There are optional rules for including additional Characters (one per Unit) and these models come with various abilities to influence the performance of your army - most are unique to your chosen faction. 

There will be much more news on this subject, but to start off there will be eleven days of puzzle pieces of the cover art, culminating with the final full cover on the twelfth day...

Commander Culln

Here's the newest addition to my Red Scorpions Space Marine army - Commander Culln! The addition of the Commander places me somewhere around 2600 points for this army, though I would need to use two force structures because I now how three HQ choices... not a problem since I have four Troop choices!

I have a pile of Rhino/Razorback (I plan to leave the top hatch unglued so I can use the kits for either) and Drop Pod transports hanging around which will probably be up next when I get around to more Space Marines.

Bow Ties Are Cool

Ok, maybe not... but Dr Who is cool, in a nerdy kind of way. I first discovered Dr Who as a child in 1974 and managed to start watching with the first episode of Robot - the first of the Tom Baker run as the fourth doctor. This was in the dark days before DVRs or even VHS so if you if you missed a show you MISSED a show. Luckily it came on right after I got home from school so I rarely missed an episode. By now I've seen some shows from most incarnations of the Doctor and Tom Baker has always remained my favorite. That said, Matt Smith's portrayal has won me back as a regular viewer - I didn't much care for the incarnations in between...

The Doctor is a metal 28mm Nerdlord II from Heresy Miniatures and the TARDIS is a resin police call box from Fenris Games. The only thing that bugs me is the layout of the front door panels since the traditional Dr Who version has six panels below the windows - I actual ordered another TWO kits and intend to cut them up to make a proper configuration, but I like the way the colors turned out so I consider this model a great practice piece. The decals for the TARDIS are from Company B. I've got the version from Crooked Dice along with Amy, Rory, and River and will probably paint them in the near future. I have the Tom Baker model from Blacktree as well and I think I have a Sarah and Harry set around here somewhere.

No idea what I'm using these for yet, but it was fun to paint! Maybe I'll get some cybermen or daleks and set up some sort of game - Crooked Dice have a free rule set with some interesting looking mechanics for simulating the Doctor's ability to use his intellect rather than his martial abilities to help defeat these alien menaces...

Le Roi Soleil

Le Roi Soleil Miniatures is the new stockist in North America for Warfare Miniatures. Besides carrying the full line of Warfare Miniatures, Le Roi Soleil also stocks Beneath the Lily Banner, Republic to Empire, all of the counter sets for these games, and the Quindia Studios flag range - as new products are released, Le Roi Soleil will add new products. Although primarily a mail order company at this time, over the coming months they will begin to represent Warfare Miniatures at shows and will be providing stock to local game stores. Now is your chance to start those Glorious Revolution armies and avoid the high shipping fees from across the pond!

Apologies for the lack of posts recently - I have multiple projects in the works and hope to return to regular posts soon...