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Miniatures Adventure => Call of Cthulhu => Strange Aeons => Topic started by: diehard on October 10, 2021, 12:06:40 AM
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Greetings All, it's been a while since I last posted here. Reason being cataracts in both of my eyes which robbed me of my depth perception and totally put the kibosh on painting for me (which was what drew me to TT gaming to begin with.) In fact the last project I gave up on was a decent purchase from Uncle Mike. And luckily I happened to notice the first Kickstarter and went all in on the Second Edition. So I have a drawer full of SA minis, the solo deck and all the plastic tokens and other good stuff. Sadly though I missed out on the second one and it doesn't sound like VUK rulebook or the minis in that KS are planned to receive general distribution any time soon. Now at 62 with no gaming friends it's unlikely I would have been playing it any time soon but would still like to have it to complete my collection but it is what it is. However this doesn't affect my original First Edition plan, the Mars Protocol, which I will touch on further shortly. As I was cleaning my modeling desk I decided that now that I have my vision back and am retired I was going to return to my SA plans.
My background on this is I have been collecting Lovecraft/ Cosmic Horror related things since 1969 (paperback edition TotCM) and my book collection is almost 500 volumes at this point and have been collecting miniatures and games since Grenadier first released their CoC RPG line so a lot of models built up at this point. So I decided that I would first finish off the 1st edition models I gave up on (all I did was a horrible flesh job on them) and a Shoggoth for practice on the eyes and teeth. Before I ramble on any further lets see if I can post a pic. Been a long time.
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Well the attachment worked but came out upside down. So I can post pics but just have to figure out how to tweak them. Original figures are 4 agents/characters, 9 cultists, 2 Ghouls and an ancient warrior. And finishing from scratch 8 of the Grenadier Deep Ones which were always one of my favorite versions out there.
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Okay let's try this. Nope, see that they're still upside down even after rotating them. Will have to work on that before posting any more pics. More shortly about the MARS Protocol.
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One more time.
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Okay seems like I have the pics doped out. Taken on my phone because I can't find the charger for the camera. First painting in close to a decade so I consider them practice and also gives me some models to try out a game or three using the solo deck. Without any further adieu.
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Very nice! Welcome back to the group.
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Thank you Mr. Moose it feels good to be back. Before I touch on exactly what the MARS Protocol is a little background on the idea behind it. In my many years of reading Mythos works I came up with some story beats and concepts. I then came up with the idea of playing the story out using SA for the action pieces. In the past I've had games that took on a life of their own and told a better story than I could have imagined. With a little house ruling here and there and the Solo deck I think that SA could handle this. And as I like the aesthetic of the SA sculpts I will be using them with the exception of Lurkers from some other lines I like or don't exist as SA models or are in a different form in their line. Like the Grenadier Deep Ones I just finished and will be tacking on at the end here. As a big Lovecraft fan and with this thread to help keep me enthusiastic about the project I think I may just be able to pull this off. Really glad I went all in on the first KS but now sad that I missed the second, not only for the models but the rules would have been nice to facilitate cult on cult action (yes, there are a number of factions involved in the story.) Next up the MARS Protocol revealed but here are the Grenadier Deep Ones frog/fish men.
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It stinks that you have no one to share your gaming passion with, but happy to hear you were able to get back to something you love. I can't wait to see more pics of your immense (one might even say Cyclopean? ;) ) Lovecraftian collection!
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Another one getting back into SA, I see..
Great news!
:D
I like what I see so far and looking forward to reading more, especially about the MARS Protocol.
8) 8)
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Thanks, much appreciated. Still a little getting adjusted to having depth perception again and the nerve damage in my hand but painting is coming back though my days of wet blending are passed. But I've been collecting these models for years, time to finally have some fun with them. Up next I have one more Grenadier model I always liked, their Star Spawn (good leader for the frog men) and a figure I think is RAFM that I call Mr Bubbles, a shoggoth transforming from human. Next some Uncle Mikes stuff (although Bob Murch's cultists have been laying around for a long time..........)
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Mr. Bubbles reminds me of Doctor Shiny - maybe "coming out of his skin":
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Hey Zenwired, that story was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the miniature and decided then and there he'd make a neat shoggoth/human hybrid.
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The MARS Protocol - Throughout the ages there have been attempts by cosmic entities from beyond time and space to penetrate the barriers that bar them from our reality. And there have always been defenders to foil those attempts, from the Night Watch of old to present day defenders such as Threshold, M.O.O.S.E. and others. And from early in it's founding Miskatonic University has played a role as the greatest know repository of eldritch knowledge. Recently however, with increased activity from nefarious groups such as The Esoteric Order of Dagon, the Black Brotherhood, the Whatley Foundation and others it was decided that a greater need for security was required for the dangerous books and artifacts acquired in the course of this ongoing conflict. Thus the MARS Protocol was established. Next to the prestigious Orne Library was built the Armitage Annex, whose vast sub basements became the operations center for the Miskatonic Arcane Retreival & Storage division, tasked with holding and researching the dangerous finds of the various organizations aligned against these threats. They also have a dedicated group of agents who explore the world tracking down rumors of potential threats.
I have the organization pretty well mapped out but more on that at another time. Now I have to get back to work on the four new agents I'm working on but here's some picks of some tentacles bursting through the floor. No idea where they are from saw them on Ebay and thought they looked pretty cool.
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Tell us more!!! Looks great :D The tentacles are from Mantic Games HellBoy Board Game.
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...but here's some picks of some tentacles bursting through the floor.
Nice!
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Thanks for the comments much appreciated. I passed on the Hellboy KS as I already have enough games I'll never play (and time to start Ebaying them to build up my scenery collection.) Finished the next four agents but they'll have to wait till tomorrow for pics after I spray the finish coat on them. Now to decide what to paint next (will probably work on my old GW plastic scenery while I ponder that.)
Meanwhile a little more on MARS. As everyone knows names have power, so no real names are used in the organization, instead agents are classified by color (Agent Blackhand, Bluebell, Reddress and so on.) The only real exception is the Curator Professor Howard (who lives permanently on site since faking his death) as the only know expert in this field. The Agents are know as the Collector division, of which Black, Gray and White are the top most experienced and are accompanied by the other agents as need be. The Custodians are responsible for security and consist of ex soldiers with experience with the unknown and will occasionally be deployed to help in larger skirmishes. And finally the Catalogue division which does the research into the esoteric finds. The complex itself is protected by both physical and metaphysical means making it one of the most secure places on earth (as befitting the repository of the Necronomicon itself.) And not only does MARS have to deal with the various cults of the Great Old Ones (E.o.D., Black Brotherhood, the Whately Foundation, the Yellow Sign, the infamous Openers of the Gates and others) but also other diverse groups seeking this forbidden knowledge such as the witches of the Sisterhood of Sybille and th Reanimation Consortium. As you can see they have their work cut out for them.
And now that I have a good beginning of figures to start this (hopefully) epic storyline time to get some paint on some scenery and play some games. Sure I'll have some questions so be prepared. Some new agents tomorrow though. Thanks again for taking the time to read my babbling, it helps to motivate me. (And at 62 you need a little bit of that.)
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And at 62 you need a little bit of that.
What is it with getting older? Here I sit, surrounded by more minis, scenery, and games than I can - as they say - shake a stick at, and there's tons I want to do and yet I struggle to complete a single project! *sigh* (And I look at my collection of minis - some over four decades old(!) without a lick of paint on them - and wonder what I've been doing all these years. lol )
Anyway, I wish you luck and can't wait to see everything hit the game table!
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Heh, I should have added 62 with a bad back and neck. And don't feel bad I have stuff sitting around here just as long that I still haven't done anything with. Seems like a neater project always shows up when your right in the middle of one. Anyway here are four more agents, giving me a nice assortment to start with.
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Things certainly don't go according to plan. Retired but I have painted less than ever before thanks to my bad neck causing reoccurring bouts of pain/numbness in my arms. Congratulations on getting healthy enough to paint again. Hopefully you can find someone nearby to game with once you have this collection painted.
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HI Syrinx0, you have my total sympathy and I most certainly understand where you're coming from. The cataracts were a major problem but I also suffer from degenerative spinal disease and have major issues in my neck and lower back, sometimes can't even stand up straight for days at a time, one of the reasons I took early retirement and am applying for disability. Am happy now if I get to paint for a couple hours at night and maybe a little bit here and there during the day. Medication does help a bit but still usually feel it when I'm done. I hope that you find something that helps you, didn't realize how much I missed painting till I started up again.
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In keeping with Lovecraftian "traditions" it seemed only fitting that the opening story arc for the MARS Protocol involving an ancient book of forbidden eldritch knowledge and the agents attempt to procure it before a number of other groups who seek to obtain it for their own nefarious ends. The opening episodes (games)will be centered around learning about the book and the groups who seek it. As I paint the miniatures to have at least a couple representatives for the different factions and finally at least do something basic with the scenery I have I'm hoping to be able to take that solo deck once around the block pretty soon.
The latest models I finished are a mummy looking thing that was listed as the Undead and two models for the Whateley (damn autocorrect keeps wanting to change that to Whatley) Foundation. Wait a minute I hear you thinking, aren't all the Whateleys dead? No, no they're not. There are not many who know the truth of the incidents that occurred in the town of Dunwich in the late 1920's. You see, Wilbur wasn't a twin. He was one of triplets. When Old Whateley saw the human looking baby he told his daughter Lavinia to get rid of it. However she couldn't kill her most normal looking child and eventually had to leave her child Wilbur to take care of her son Walton. After Wilbur's death Lavinia returned to the farm to gather Wilbur's notebooks and some of the books he highly valued and to procure the source of the Whateley fortune as at that point Walton began to manifest the gifts of Yog-Sothoth. At this point Walton creates the Whateley Foundation. And here are Walton, the Undead Guy and one of Walton's grandkids.
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Nice! And Walton Whately? Hmmm... brings a new way of looking at "Walton's Mountain." Good night, John-Boy indeed! :D
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Thanks as always for your comments, they truly help to keep my enthusiasm for this project running at the high level it started out with. Latest finished models are another member of the Whateley Foundation, a model on the larger side as you can see. Nothing truly exceptional about it, it basically just carries out the color scheme of the first two to it's natural conclusion. The second, the Wizard was just a model I thought looked pretty damn cool. But as I proceeded to paint him I realized who he really was and where he fits into the larger picture. Will keep that as a surprise for later on.
I was thinking of doing the Murch cultists next as I really like their sculpts but discovered that their scale was way to smaller to the SA lines. Not super disappointing though as I honestly feel that the second edition SA cultists are without a doubt my favorite of all I've seen over the many years. I primed eight of them today and after getting those guys painted up and doing a little work on some of the scenery I have here and then it's time to start rolling some dice. The models:
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Those are some properly nasty beasties - nice!
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Okay, back to painting Uncle Mike's stuff. Finished up the first eight cultists and am currently working on the next six more heavily armed guys. Well, four and the two Tcho-Tchos. Yeah, I don't see them as midgets myself, in my game they are murderous Tcho-Tchos. The cultists immediately reminded me of monks so that's the color scheme that I went with. Am pleased with the final results. Dry brushed a couple of trees and I think I have the basic scenery I need for my first exploratory game. Will finish re-reading the rule book and guess I'm good to go. Thanks for all the feedback and I know if I do have any questions I know where to ask. A fhtagn day to all.
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Eh, would have been nice if I had remember to attach the pics.
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Moving right along with the cultists here are the 4 more heavily armed guys and the two evil Tcho-Tchos. Working on the last 5 cultists now.
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And the last of the cultists finished. The identity of the alternate high priest shall be revealed later, we'll save that for an in story twist. The possessed guys were fun, and the high priestess was a blast. Have to pick up some primer this week but should have enough left to do a couple MARS agents next. And maybe knock together a test run game with the SOLO deck. Have a fhtagn day.
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Three more Agents and Father Ignatowski. A couple more agents and the kids to do and then it's Lurkers all the way. And while I wait for the primer I ordered to come in time to finally devote some time to scenery. Still really psyched about this project. A shame that this game is slipping into obscurity. Still hoping for Uncle Mike to pop back up and maybe put the VUK stuff up in the shop. And is Fhatgn still a thing? I'm sure that when I joined the cult I had a different email address, not even sure who to send the new one to or if it's even worth the effort. The Agents:
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Listens to the crickets in here.............
Okay finished the last couple Agents, including the two captive ones, and decided to polish off the kids. Now it's Lurkers from here on. Good times.
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The mad scientist, his henchman and the zombies. These were a lot of fun to paint.
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The mad scientist is truly a great figure. A little vignette that speaks a lot.
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I agree, the majority of the SA sculpts are very stylistic and I happen to really like them. The scientist was a lot of fun to paint too, as are most of the figures in the line. Have decided to paint them all as you can see by this thread. Thanks for taking a look.
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Well it's been a little bit but I have kept busy. I ran out of matte finish and my replacement came on Christmas eve so I had a pile of Lurkers sitting in one of my drawers. As we left off with the zombies we'll pick up there. Here's the zombie dogs, mummy and Construct, two Maniacs (of course I had to do Santa) and some Children of Yig.
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So far the Lurkers have been a lot of fun to paint. Besides working out the color scheme you get a lot of neat background and plot ideas while painting them. Up next we have the Demonic Hound and Winged Nightmare.
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Then we have the Wendigo (who I just think of as the Beast but a very cool model), some giant tentacles, the Formless Thing and some crates and the monolith that I knocked out one night as I saw they were in a few of the scenarios.
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And until I finish spraying the last couple finished models we hae left the witches and associates. The witches are very characterful sculpts and were more fun to paint than I anticipated. And then of course I had to do the familiars which led to the swarms and giant vermin.
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Out of finish again, that can went tquickly. Had enough left to finish off the Servitor and Conglomerate and still have eight more finished models that need to be varnished. Luckily I already ordered another can and expect it mid weekish. Then it's only the Dagonites (always saved the best for last) and the four larger sized pieces to complete all my Uncle Mike's models (well and the scenery pieces too but that's just an evening's work.)
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Well my finish showed up a couple days ago and although it's still too cold out I took a chance and sprayed them on my sun porch which worked out okay for the most part. And my two new Winsor and Newton brushes showed up this week so that's a good thing because my present ones are just about shot at this point. And yeah found the charger for my camera so at some point I can get better pictures of the Strange Aeons collection, probably after I'm all finished. Working on the Dark Puppeteer right now but then it's just the big Shoggoth and the assorted Dagonites. But here's the latest batch, starting with the Scrawny Ones, Mr. And Mrs. Bigfeet, a redone Ancient Warrior and Ghouls and the Yellow King complete with Pallid Mask.
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The Watcher which was a lot of fun to paint and for some reason I really like, the Big Grub and the Grubettes and the God Spawn which was another fun figure to do and which again for some reason I really like.
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Nice!
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Thanks Mr. Moose and thanks for your own contributions to SA, have been reading through a lot of back posts and they've been quite an inspiration to me. Hope to see your return to Strange Aeons universe someday.
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Here's the Dark Puppeteer. Wasn't that enthusiastic about this one both model wise and game wise and have to admit in the beginning I was pretty much phoning this one in but as I got more towards the end I started to appreciate it a little more. Don't know if it will ever make it into my games but it's part of the collection so had to be given a decent effort.
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These were finished over the last week or so but it's been way to cold here in NE PA to do any spraying outside but it was fairly decent today and mostly sunny so I decided to take my chances in the greenhouse and it worked out okay. So here we have the Hybrids (except for the wheelchair guy two of my favorites in the line), the Fishmen and a bonus Cthulhu Wars Deep One. And the Shoggoth which is a great version but man painting all those teeth and eyes was pretty time consuming. Working on the big Deep One now and then it's just some scenery left and will have completed the entire 2nd Edition KS (in which I got everything but the Godling because they were already gone.)
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Would have been better had I attached the pictures but eh it's kind of late and been a long day.
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And the rest......
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More lovely stuff!!
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Thanks once again. This has turned into one of the most fun projects I've undertaken and one of the few I'll have seen through to the end. And that's just for the KS, I still have a ton of other models to expand my Lurkers. But first on to finish some scenery so I can get some games in with all these guys.
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HAHA at least im not the only one returning after a longer abstinence :D
Last time i checked in here was 2015 lol so.... i have A LOT of reading up to do :D
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Well let me say welcome back. As soon as I had my cataracts fixed painting and Strange Aeons were one of the first things I thought of as my eyes got really bad right after the KS for second edition. And although it's been pretty dead here (which baffles me with such an interesting and unique game system) I still am super happy to be able to act upon all the cool (to me anyway) ideas I had and to be able to share it with other fans of the Mythos genre in general and SA in particular. Looking forward to following your return also. Have a fhtagn day!
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And yeah it took me quite a while to read up on all the back posts but that was actually entertaining and inspirational in it's own right and worth the time in my humble opinion.
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And finishing off the final figures from the second edition Kickstarter we have the Deep One in both his standing and submerged versions. May tweak the water a little yet not too thrilled with it as it sits now. All that's left now is the small amounts of scenic elements which I'm already working on. In all my years of painting and gaming I've only finished like three projects to my satisfaction so am kinda pumped with Strange Aeons right now.
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And, coming around the final stretch, while waiting for a chance to varnish the Deep One, I polished off some of the smaller scenic elements. Leaves me with the mausoleum,the two broken column pieces, the pumpkins (which I have no idea what I'm doing with) and the tombstones which I have to come up with bases for and then the entire 2nd Edition KS will be done. Here we have the Devil's Cauldron, the Damned Altar, the Scrawny Ones markers, stone sarcophagus and my favorite the chained coffin.
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And the last few terrain pieces, the mausoleum, the two broken pillar pieces with all the skulls and the set of headstones. And a Cthulhu Wars ghoul cause they're always checking out new property in the cemetery. This finishes all the miniatures from the Strange Aeons Second Edition Kickstarter, of which I went all in. And maybe the third totally completed project in all my painting history. There are still the pumpkins left but I have an idea to use them for a Scene of Horror, need to find a specific figure to pull that off though. I still have many more Mythos stuff to add from Cthulhu Wars, the Death May Die game and from assorted lines going all the way back to the original Grenadier models. But unless I can somehow get a hold of the Kulten figures all of Uncle Mike's stuff is done. But for now time to start working on some long neglected scenery pieces, get that solo deck out and see what trouble the MARS Protocol gets up to.
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Finished re-reading the rulebook and assembling the old GW fortified mansion (and the chapels, tower and other stuff in the box) now have to pick up some craft paints to finish them (and the four wooded sections) off. Whilst I'm enjoying all aspects of this project I still like to have a couple models to paint on the desk. Here's one I might have gotten from Ebay, not sure but I just thought it looked pretty cool.
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As I get the hang of the solo deck and the rules themselves (which have made me scratch my head in puzzlement more than once) and working on various terrain pieces (mostly GW plastic stuff) I still like to have something on the desk to paint. There are still a lot of Lurkers that have no official model so want to start filling in those gaps (although may start work on some old Shock Force I bought like over 20 years ago that I found in my desk.) And even though the scenery isn't done I plan on starting the MARS Protocol storyline so will try to throw some AAR up soonish. Anyway here we have one of the dreaded purple spiders from Leng and a Shambler. Wasn't too inspired by these probably because I found those old Vengequan and had those on my mind so may touch them up at some point in time.
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Although the Strange Aeons board here is pretty dead I see that there are still people viewing it. Uncle Mike hasn't been around for quite a while and I see nothing new on the Strange Aeons website either. So just figured I'd throw it out there, if anyone was part of the VUK Kickstarter and is interested in parting with the miniatures and/or book would love to get them to finish my SA collection. To sweeten that, the old foam GW cemetery in my scenery pics, I have 3 of them, one mint in the bag which I would throw in on the deal. Hey never hurts to ask my mom always said.
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The spider is nice. I use an old WOTC Star Wars spider, not perfect but does the job.
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Thanks S.M., usually I know pretty much what I'm going to do with a model but had to think on the spider for a bit. But was fairly pleased with the way he came out considering. Lot of the Cthulhu Wars figures are pretty decent overall, there's a couple more yet that'll make it to the Lurkers collection. And if your spider does the job that's what really counts (I do hope he's purple though.)
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Diehard,
Enjoying watching your progress. Keep up your work. You have a number of models that would be fun in a Witcher style game too.
While usually just a lurker myself, I decided to post to give you more motivation. I know how hard it is to stay motivated when there are so many other distractions.
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Hey Skipper, thanks a lot, your post means a lot to me, more than I can easily express. I will admit the lack of any activity here was a bit of a downer, and then after I was finished with the SA collection I was looking for the next models to paint and came across some old Shockforce minis and decided to quick polish them off. But wasn't really into it and sort of killed my mojo. But just this past weekend I started work on a bunch of armed Deep Ones and also some of my 20mm Dark Future figures so between the two I'm pretty excited to be painting again and will be adding more to this collection. Am also fiddling with the SA rules a bit so hopefully I can get the game I want out of them. Thanks again and have a most fhtagn day!
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I just wanna mention that I took a lot oj joy and inspiration from your posts. It is so sad that the game is no more available but as long as people play the game and share their adventures and joy they had with the rules, the game will live on :-) .