Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006 - Mega Miniatures

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 20061


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006TABLE OF CONTENTSBATTLE REPORTSHordes: Circle Orboros vs. Trollblood 2B5: Earth Alliance vs. Centauri 11TERRAIN WORKSHOPFantasy Landscapes 22MINIATURE REVIEWSPrivateer Press: Hordes 29Alpha Forge Miniatures: Sci-Fi & Fantasy 29Corvus Belli: Infinity & War Crow 31Aberrant Games: Rezolution 34Hasslefree Miniatures: Sci-Fi & Fantasy 37Heresy Miniatures: Fantasy 40Reaper Miniatures: Dark Heaven and Warlord 41Impact Miniatures: Fantasy 52Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures: Fantasy 53Magnificent Egos: Fantasy 55GAME / BOOK REVIEWSAberrant Games: Rezolution - Shadow War 56Rattrap Productions: Amazing War Stories 57Black Library: Looks Could Kill 58RPG SCENARIOComanche Trouble, part 3 59ADVERTISERS INDEXGreat Canadian Miniatures IFC, 42Fantization 3, 23Alpha Forge Miniatures 7Hotz Artwork 10Mongoose Publishing 12Impact Miniatures 18Hasslefree Miniatures 21, 26, 39, 60Privateer Press 28Blue Table Painting 29, 34, 46, 52Corvus Belli 33Aberrant Games 35Reaper Miniatures 48, 49Your Move Games 54Columbia Games 63The artwork for the cover of this issue of Fictional Reality wasprovided by the good folks at Aberrant Gameswww.aberrantgames.comThe complete/original picture can be seen below and will befeatured on an upcoming release for Rezolution. The artwork isused with permission in Fictional Reality but remains 100% theproperty of Aberrant Games. Many thanks to them for allowingus to use it here.1


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006Fury and reducesher downto 4 remainingpoints. She’llneed to dosome leachingnext turn toreplenish theseused points.Brian’s Maintenanceand Control phases arethe same as mine withnothing really to dosince it’s his first turn ofthe game. For his Activationphase…- The Troll Impalerwith thefashionablegreen tassel onhis spear isforced (+2 Fury on the model now) to use its Animusand gives Madrak +4” range until their next turn. AnAnimus is a special power that Warbeasts can use thatcan end up being quite useful but also raise their Furylevel rather quickly. It also backs up 5” instead ofmoving up towards the advancing hounds.- The other Troll Impaler, who has a red tassel on hisspear, is also forced to use his Animus (+2 Fury forhim) but his bonus (+4” to range) goes on the first TrollImpaler. He also backs up.- The Axer backs up also and is forced to use his Animus(giving him extra charge movement and allowing himto cross rough terrain at no penalty) but puts it on himself.- Madrak is last and backs up a bit too. He then castsSure Foot (bonus to DEFense and cannot be knockeddown and those close to him also get this benefit) toreduce his Fury from 5 to 2 and then also casts GuidedHand on himself (getting an extra die on his first meleeattack this turn) dropping his current Fury total down tozero.breath ing room since Kaya has an ability that allows friendlyWarbeasts in her control area (16” in her case) to make THResholdrolls as if their stat was one higher than normal. Ok, so theone Argus doesn’t start frothing at the mouth and we can moveon to my Activation phase. This one goes pretty quickly asKaya again moves up and casts Cloak of Mists. Both of my Arguskeep on a truckin’ forward, but without running or accumulatingany additional Fury. The Warpwolf moves up toward thetrolls, ready to fight.Brian’s spells expire and Madrak leaches 2 Fury from the Axer,2 from the Impaler with the green tassel and just one (gettinghim back to him limit of 5) from the Impaler with the red tassel.The remaining point of Fury on one Impaler requires a THResholdcheck and Brian’s rolls a 7, plus one for the point of Fury,for a total of 8 which is safely below its THReshold stat of 9.Moving on to his Activation phase…- One Troll Impaler (green tassel) is forced to use hisAnimus (giving the bonus to Madrak again) and he alsoadvances 5” and chucks his spear (which looks morelike a telephone pole with a giant iron spike on it) at theclosest Argus. He ended up being close enough thatthe Cloak of Mists did not provide the pooch with anyprotection. The Impaler has a RAT (Ranged ATtack)of 5 and you add 2d6 to that and compare it to the DE-Fense of the target. In this case the DEF is 14 andBrian’s total was a 16 so the Toll Impal er hits with hisattack. The damage done is equal to 2d6 + the Powerand Strength of the attack (13) – the ARMor of thetarget. This resulted in 8 points of damage to the Argusin location 4, body.- The other Impaler followed the same course of action(other than using his Animus) but this one was forcedto add an extra die to his to hit roll. This gives him agreater chance to hit his target but also raises his Furyby one point. The resulting roll, an 18, easily hits theTurn 2Well, I was able to advance towards Brian’s troops without anyharm coming to me and getting into close combat is the onlyplace where I’ll be able to win the game so it’s time to pressonward.For the Maintenance phase we still don’t have much going onexcept that the Cloak of Mists spell wears off. In my Controlphase I leach one Fury each from one Argus and the Warpwolf.This gets Kaya back up to her maximum of six, but also leavesone point of Fury on an Argus that must be dealt with. AThreshold check is done by adding the number of current Fury(remember, you only roll if there actually is any Fury on a Warbeast)to 2d6. If the result is greater than the THReshold stat ofthe model it freaks out. The check ends up being an 8 the Argushas a THR of 9 so it passes. Additionally, I had some extra5

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006Argus and the damage done (9 more points to location6, spirit) ends up ticking off all of the circles of hisspirit which means that it can no longer be forcedunless it’s healed to get some points back on the spirittrack.- Madrak now moves up and throws his boomerang-Oaxe(since it returns after he tosses it) at the significantlywounded Argus. Brian uses a point of Fury toadd a die to his to hit roll, but still manages to miss.Whew! He then spends 3 Fury to cast Stone Fall(choosing to spend another point of Fury to increase hischance of successful casting) and also fails!- The Axer charges the Warpwolf and with 10” of movement(thanks to using his Animus last turn) just barelygets into striking distance of the large beast. Knowingthat he’ll need to cause as much damage as quickly aspossible since the Warpwolf is likely to make a steakand kidney pie out of the Axer Brian forces him to addan extra die to his to hit roll (+1 Fury) and ends up rollinga critical hit. Too bad that the Axer’s weapon doesn’thave any special critical hit fanciness to it, but it’sstill a hit anyway. With an ARMor of 18 (base of 16plus 2 for h is Controlled Warping ability) he’s noslouch but the Axer is hitting with a Power andStrength of 15 and gets to roll 3d6 instead of 2d6 sincehe charged. The result is 8 points of damage to location5, spirit, which completely marks off each box andthe Warpwolf is left unable to be forced also. I made amistake here because the Warpwolf has an ability thatallows the controller, not a die roll, to decide whatbranch damage starts on.As much as I’d rather be the one initiating the close combatcharging we’re in the deep end now with the Warpwolf and theAxer and even though I suffered some damage I don’t feel toobad about it because all of my Warbeasts are still standing andcan now start chewing on some trollflesh.Turn 3Cloak of Mists goes away and we quickly move on to the Controlphase. Kaya leaches one point each off the Argus and theWarpwolf leaving them devoid of any Fury points.- Kaya then activates and heals four points of damagefrom the hurt Argus’ spirit branch and then casts SpiritDoor to teleport to the far side of the Warpwolf. Shethen tries to strike the Troll Axer, but misses.- The Warpwolf, is unable to be forced (I really shouldhave healed three from the Argus and one from theWarpwolf) but can switch his turn-to-turn ability overto add +2 to his STRength for this round. He has tworegular claw attacks and hits the Troll Axer with bothof them. Unfortunately, the first one bounces (total of18 damage against its ARMor of 18) and the secondone only penetrates for 2 points of damage. Hittingwith both claw attacks allows me to perform a specialThroat Ripper attack but I miss.- The Argus that looks like he’s about to launch himselfat an enemy does just that as he is forced to charge theTroll Impaler with the green tassel. I boost the attackroll (+2 more Fury for a total of 3 on this Argus, hismaximum) on both bite attacks and both end up hitting.I do a pathetic total of 3 points of damage.- The other Argus does the same, hits with both attacks(going up to 3 Fury in the process) and doing a total of12 points of damage which results in the spirit andmind branches of the Troll Impaler being taken out.Brian’s Maintenance phase consists of effects ending and wemove right into his Control phase where he leaches 5 Fury offhis Warbeasts and is not required to make any THResholdchecks. For this turn’s activations we have…- To start things off Madrak casts Guided Hand on theTroll Axer and then charges the Argus that looks like6


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006I could argue that I’d have liked to see more damage done to theTrolls but one was effectively taken out of the fight and whileKaya was pretty significantly beat up she’s still standing and Ihave revenge on my mind.Turn 4In my Control phase Kaya leaches 6 Fury from the Argus’ takingthem both back down to zero. Then the fun begins, for meanyway…it’s running and promptly misses. He then casts SureFoot on himself and hopes for better results out of theTrolls.- The Impaler with the red tassel is forced to charge Kaya(+1 Fury) and also boosts the to hit roll (+1 more Fury)but the big brute misses. Brian puts another Fury onhim and he attacks Kaya again and still misses.- The Axer retaliates against Kaya’s attempt to hit himand unloads on her. Brian added 1d6 to both the to hitand damage rolls (+2 Fury) and smacked her up for 10points of damage. That definitely caused me a lot ofconcern. He added another Fury on to the Axer andattacked again but luckily, for me, he missed.- Brian’s third turn ends with his heavily wounded TrollImpaler standing there and, “Taking it like a Troll”according to Brian.- First, the jumping Argus attacks the wounded Impalerand I boost my first to hit roll and even though I need ahigher than normal roll (due to Sure Foot being cast byMadrak) I strike true (bite true?) and chomp rightthrough the Troll (with a boosted damage roll) and killit with 10 more points of damage! The Argus doeshave an attack left, but there is nobody within range forhim to bite so it’s wasted.- The other Argus takes a bite out of crime, well Madrak,and is successful with one of his two attacks, but onlyfor a modest 3 points of damage.- Kaya starts off her activation by healing one point ofdamage from the Warpwolf (from his spirit branch) andthree points of damage from herself. She then castsRager on the Warpwolf which will allow it to make apower attack and then make its regular attacks thisround. It’s quite vicious but it also drops her Furydown to zero. So, now is the perfect time for her topop her feat. This allows Kaya to place up to 3 Fury oneach friendly Warbeast in her control area, up to theirmaximum capacity, and then she can immediatelyleach up to 6 points of Fury off of them. She does thisand uses three of the new Fury points to heal herselfsome more and then attacks the Axer. She boosts theto hit roll and the damage (-2 Fury, down to just onepoint remaining) and does just one point of damage. Ispend the last point of her Fury to attack again and8

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006manage to hit with a critical (which knocks down theAxer) but don’t cause any damage. On the bright side,with the Axer laying on the ground his DEFense is nowsignificantly reduced and he should prove to be an easytarget for the Warpwolf.- And a wonderful target he turns out to be! Between theWarpwolf’s Power Attack (a Rend, which would causenearby models to make a check to see if they run awayif it kills the model) and his two regular claw attacksthe Axer is torn to shreds (having done a total of 22points of damage in those three attacks). Since it wasnot the Rend that finished him off there is no check tosee of those nearby get scared by the vulgar display ofpower, but he’s still dead as dead can be. TheWarpwolf also loses the opportunity to use his ThroatRipper attack because his target is dead but I’ll take atrade-off like that any day.Yeah, two dead trolls is definitely a good way to end the turn.With only two models to use Brian’s 4 th turn of the game doesn’ttake too long to complete. In his Control phase Madrakleaches two Fury from the last standing troll, but there is stillone point left on the Impaler so he’s forced to make a THResholdcheck. He passes without a problem and we move on to hisActivation phase…Turn 5- Madrak first casts Guided Hand on the Troll Impalerand then disengages from combat with the Argus. Thetwo-headed dog gets a free attack and misses. Brian’sWarlock then moves around the corner of the stonewalls and casts Sure Foot on himself. He endsMadrak’s activation by throwing his axe at theWarpwolf. He hits and causes 5 points of damage.Here’s where I made the same mistake as earlier inallowing a die roll to dictate where the damage landedinstead of me doing so. It wasn’t something that Ireally realized until after the game was done and somethingthat I’ll attribute to learning the abilities of newtroops. The damage ended up re-eliminating his spiritbranch.- The Impaler, using Guided Hand to get an extra +1d6on his to hit roll, smashed Kaya for 9 more points ofdamage. Uh, oh! This is getting rather scary, ratherquickly. Brian then forced an extra attack roll andmissed and then another and missed again! Had he hitit could easily have been the end of my Warlock.Kaya leaches 4 Fury off of the Warpwolf and 2 more from theuninjured Argus. The injured Argus needs to make a THResholdcheck and passes without a problem.- Kaya heals the Warpwolf (1 point from his spirit track,of course) and takes five points off damage off herselftoo. She attacks the Impaler and misses. Man, that’snot a great way to start the turn.- The Warpwolf ends up not being too manly and onlyconnects with one of its attacks on the Impaler, butmanages to cause ten points of damage which isn’t sobad. I even forced it to attack an additional time andmissed.- The Argus in the running pose charged over and eachmouth took a bite out of the Impaler and killed it. Excellent,Brian is now down to just one model and I haveall of mine still in the fight. Brian did reave 3 Fury offthe Impaler that just bit the dust. Reaving allows aWarlock to gain Fury from a friendly Warbeast thatdies in his control area.- The last Argus is forced to run over in front of Madrakin an attempt to get between him and Kaya. I get thehound into close combat range but cannot attack.I see no chance of Brian making it out of my half of turn 6 aliveso if he’s going to pull something out of his butt (Oh man, I’mreally hoping he doesn’t, both figuratively and literally!) it hasto be now.- Madrak disengages from the Argus and is struck forthree points of damage. He then moves over to Kayaand gets into close combat range with her. His firstattack misses! He then hits with a boosted attack andneeds to cause 7 points of damage to kill her. He does8 and she slumps to the ground. Her Warpack goesWild and scurries towards the nearest table edge.Man, he did exactly what he needed to right when it matteredthe most.Post-GameMark’s post-game thoughtsAs much as you might expect it I’m not mad about how thegame turned out. Sure, Brian’s win streak at Warmachine hasnow extended into Hordes, but this game was so much fun frombeginning to end and it really helped me realize something. I’vebeen playing Warmachine like a little girl from the beginning.9

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006Ok, maybe that’snot fair to the legionsof little girlsout there that couldprobably clean myclock with somepretty pink Cryxmodels. Anyway,it’s one thing totalk about playinglike you’ve got apair and another toactually do it. Ihad not really doneit until today. I hadalways played timidly,defensively, afraid to actually get in there and bash awa yfor fear of loosing troops or getting my ‘jacks damaged and destroyed.You know what, I lost troops and got my ‘jacks beatinto broken gears anyway. In fact, it was probably worse becauseof my playing style. I’m not saying that there aren’t timesto form up firing lines and have some troops in less offensivepositions, but dammit I was just being a wuss!I came out of the game feeling good about how I played it andactually ok with the result. Yes, I’d rather win but it was a fungame and I like Hordes, a lot! I think that it’s play style of riskmanagement over resource management (as in Warmachine)suits the smashing and bashing of big monsters very well. MyCygnar army is definitely not being shelved by any means, infact, I’m very much looking forward to getting some cavalry andmaybe even trying to play them right. But I think that I’vefound a new love in Hordes and can’t wait to play some more.Brian’s post-game thoughts (aka The SPCA is mad at me!)Madrak is the man…err…uhm…Trollblood!! He snatched defeatfrom the jaws of victory. I was a bit worried about himearly in the game. Actually, it was my pitiful dice rolling thatmade him look bad. I was correct; he is rock solid in combat.Madrak turned Kaya into foi gras. Her feat is stupendous! Thisfight was a near run thing. The outcome came down to the veryend. It was also very dramatic. Madrak stood alone against theentire Circle force and triumphed. If he had not killed Kayawhen he did I would not have won the game. With no warbeastsMadrak would not have been able to stockpile any Fury forspells or combat. His Feat, Crusher, would work great in agame featuring infantry, but I never found a time to use it in thisone. All three of Madrak’s spells are useful even though Imissed the roll for Stone Fall (I forgot about the deviation duringthe game). If I had cast Sure Foot on the Axer during thelast turn he might have survived. Being knocked down byKaya’s critical hit was a death sentence for him.This was a very enjoyable game. Both sides were in the gameuntil the very end. Two things I noticed afterwards. One, I wasdisappointed that I never got to use the Ricochet (boomer-axe?)effect. Two, Madrak’s Talisman of Subdual is fantastic! Notbeing charged frontally by warbeasts is almost a game breaker.Now, off to order a Dire Troll Mauler and assemble my otherImpalers, Axer, and Hoarluk Doomshaper. Hoarluck appearsmore magicified and less combat oriented that Madrak. Thosetwo will definitel y play differently.Written and played by Mark Theurer and Brian Ahrens10

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006IntroductionFor this issue, we will be playing "Babylon 5: a Call to Arms" –a spaceship combat game set in the universe of J. Michael Straczynski's"Babylon 5". For all you ever would want to know, goto the Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 (http://www.ntua.gr/lurk/).B5:ACTA is the name of the boxed starter set, which includesrules, scenarios, campaign rules, fleet lists for the differentpowers, and counters for all the ships. The hardback bookBabylon 5: All Call to Arms - Sky Full of Stars (B5:ASfoS) isthe first supplement to B5:ACTA and includes rules for planetaryassaults, star bases, space stations, and boarding actions aswell as larger fleet lists for almost all the races.Today's game is a 5-point Raid game of Centauri Republic(played by Clay) against the Earth Alliance (played by Michael).We will be playing the Annihilation scenario with a singlelifeless planet near the center of the board. This scenario is asimple meet grinder mission and is supposed to end when oneside is completely wiped out. The victor of course is the playerthat has a ship left.B5:ACTA uses a unique way of purchasing ships. Each ship israted on a 5-level scale of patrol, skirmish, raid, battle, and war.Scenarios are rated at a one of these levels with an associatedpoint total. A ship that is the same rating as the scenario costs 1point. Ships that are higher cost more points and ships that arelower cost less. For example, today's game is a 5 point Raidgame. For this game, I could bring:5 Raid-level ships10 Skirmish-level ships15 Patrol-level ships2 Battle-level ships and 1 Raid-level ship [ (2 * 2) + 1 = 5Raid points].1 War-level ship and 1 Battle-level ship [ 3 + 2 = 5 Raidpoints].In general, this is how it works. For larger scale games, Battleand War level, B5:SFOS changes this mix a bit.Combat in B5:ACTA follows the bucket of dice model. A givenweapon is rated in terms of d6 attack dice (AD). When firing theweapon, this is the number of dice that are thrown to determineif a hit is scored. Each ship has a Hull rating of 1-6. To score ahit, an AD must equal or exceed the Hull rating of a ship (1 isauto miss and 6 is auto hit). Damage is resolved by rolling a d6for each hit and the results are cross indexed on the damage table.A roll of “6” on the damage table results in a critical hitwhich is resolved on an additional set of tables.Different weapons have different special abilities - some of themost common are:Twin-linked - the player is allowed to re-roll any missesArmor Piercing (AP) - the player modifies each AD by +1Super Armor Piercing (AP) - the player modifies each ADby +2Double Damage (DD) - all damage scored is doubled, evencritical hits.Beam - Each successful hit with an attack die allows the dieto be rolled again. The player may continue to rolluntil the die misses. The target number (i.e. Hull) isincreased for each subsequent roll.It has been my experience that Beam weapons are the queen ofthe battle as they usually have a long range (~ 20") and are usuallyaugmented by AP and DD.I have played B5:ACTA for about a year but this will be Clay'sfirst game. He is playing the Centauri Republic whose fleet isknown for a having a number of beam weapons and high hullvalues. On the down side, the damage and crew casualty boxesare smaller than normal and the ships have limited fire arcs.Clay's fleet consists of:1 Altarian class Destroyer (Raid level)2 Dargan class Strike Cruisers (Raid level)4 Maximus class Frigates (Skirmish level)This gives Clay sevenships - three on leveland four just below.The weapon load outfor his fleet featuresonly 2 Beam weaponsand 4 armor piercingdouble damageweapons. This is actuallyBeam-light foryour average Centaurifleet. I am usedto seeing twice thatnumber of Beamweapons. All the ships except the Dargans have Hull 6, whichmeans that non-AP weapons will have trouble hitting them.Other than being light on Beams, this is a good all-around fleetwith enough ships to control the flow of battle (as you will seein the turn by turn description).The Dargans carry the most punch, but they have lower hullvalues. The Altarian and Maximus ships have Hull 6 but limitedweapons. I figure that the maneuverable Maximus frigates willbe the vanguard followed by the Altarian and Dargans bringingup the rear - a flying wedge as it were. The Centauri will need toget in close to bring most of their weapons to bear, but the Darganwill start sniping one turn one. The additional ship Clayhas, along with his +3 bonus to initiative will mean he can sitback and maneuver the larger ships after he sees what maneuversI do.11


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006I will be playing theEarth force, the spacenavy of the Earth Alliance(EA). EA shipsare known for havinglots of weapons thatcan bring them to bearin all arcs and forhaving a high numberof interceptors. Interceptorsare like activeshields in that theycan defend againstmost attacking weapons.Most notably Beam weapons are immune to Interceptors -which only adds to their regal status. Historically, I have beenmauled by Centauri because of their Beam weapons -this experience will drive my fleet selection.EA fleets are limited by the number of Raid-level ships theyhave, so I’ll be fielding above and below the scenario rating totry and get a good mix of ships. After careful consideration, Ichose the following fleet:1 Nova Dreadnought (Raid level)1 Apollo Bombardment Cruiser (Battle level)4 Hyperion Missile Cruisers (Skirmish level)Michael’s pre-game commentsEA ships are extremely lacking in the Beam department. A fewships have them - notably the Omega Destroyer and the HyperionCruiser - but these are bore sight weapons which means theship must line up against their opponent to fire them. Yes, theyhave a longer-range than normal, but it has been my experiencethat they never are worth their cost - especially since all otherfleet's beam weapons fire into one or more 90-degreearcs. Given that, I'm opting for lots of missiles - the ApolloBombardment cruiser and the Hyperion Missile cruisers.The Apollo can fire a large salvo each turn while a specific arcon the Hyperians can fire only every other turn. The range forthese missiles is 30", so I want to keep my distance. The NovaDreadnought can throw lots of dice but at much shorter range.My plan is to keep the Nova and its fighters between my fleetand the Centauri and concentrate my missiles on the Dargans(lower hull value and beam weapons) first. After that, I'll go forthe Altarian and finally the Maximus Frigates. These last onesare very maneuverable, but have very limited fire arcs. They arebasically large fighters. One concern is that I've got a lowerinitiative bonus (+1) and one fewer ship than Clay. As such, Iwill be probably be moving my forces before him and thus givinghim a chance to react. Knowing that, I'll have to be sure tomove the Nova last, so as to provide the best cover for my missileboats. The missile boats will maneuver to (1) keep the Centauriat range and (2) bring their missiles to bear on the correcttarget each turn.Clay’s pre-game commentsI’ve been looking forward to playing B5 for a while now andeven more so after studying the rules a bit. It seemed to me thatthere would be a whole lot of dice rolling, but the systemseemed simple enough. The one thing that really jumped out atme was that the game just about completely removes the threedimensional aspect of space to be able to make the game easilyplayable on a 2-D surface. The one allowance they make is tosay that since the battlefield is really 3-D, it is assumed thatmodels never block line of sight. Now although I can see thepoint here, it does tend to nullify some of the usefulness of fleetformations and battle tactics (there is a special action where aship can attempt to interpose itself, but with my particular fleetthis did not prove to be practical). It seemed to me that therewould not be a whole lot of strategy in the game as we both juststart pummeling each other.Of course for me to bring most my weapons to bear, I wouldhave to close with Michael’s fleet as fast as I could. Luckilythese is a special action where you can increase your speed by50% if you go in a straight line. So I would have to deploy withmy ship pointing the right way in order to make this work. Besidesthat, I saw little need in any other sort of deploymentstrategies.DeploymentWe started with the first roll of the game by rolling 2d6 for theset-up initiative. As luck would have it, the first roll ended in atie, so we had to roll again. This time Clay won, making Michaelset up his Earth Alliance ships first. All ships that could,13

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006started with a flight of fighter deployed so Clay started withthree flights on the table, and Michael started with one.EarthAllianceCentauriRepublicRacial Roll Total WinnerMod+1 8 / 7 9 / 8 Tie / Lose+3 6 / 8 9 / 11 Tie / WinTurn 1With deployment done we moved onto the good stuff. For initiativewe both ended up rolling average numbers again, so theCentauri racial modifier decided the issue again.EarthAllianceCentauriRepublicRacial Roll Total WinnerMod+1 7 8+3 7 10 WinMovementMichael started the show by Advancing his Apollo BombardmentCruiser while calling that he was closing his blast doors ashis special action. Clay did exactly the same thing with his firstMaximus Frigate. In fact, the movement phase of the turn wentrather fast as each side took turns advancing their ships and closingblast doors. The only exception on Clay’s side was that thesecond Dargan launched another flight of fighters instead ofclosing blast doors. The only exception on Michael’s side washis Nova Dreadnought which attempted a “Scramble, Scramble”special action to launch two flights of fighters, but since hefailed his crew check, this didn’t happen. We did have to makea rule call here. The rules do not tell you whether of not a shipmay still launch the normal flight if the Scramble, Scramblefails. We decided that it made sense to still allow the ship tolaunch its normal allotment, so the Dreadnought did launch oneflight.CombatThe combat phase went fast as well as most of the ships wherestill out of range. Clay’s only shots came from his DarganStrike Cruisers which both targeted the Nova with their battlelasers as the Apollo was still out of range. The battle lasers arebeam weapons and have super AP and double damage to boot,but they only have 2 attack dice. Even so, Clay manages toscores a total of six hits with one of them being a critical hitcausing a hull breach. Since beam weapons ignore interceptorsand the Nova was the one ship in Michael’s fleet that did notclose blast doors, the Nova just sucked up the damage. All told,it took fourteen Hull points of damage, and fourteen crewpoints. This hurt, but not badly enough to slow it down.On the Earth Alliance side, the Apollo started by targeting thefirst Dargan with a barrage of advanced missiles scoring six hits.Of these hits, four scored solid hits and the other two scoredcritical hits. One of the critical hits was to vital systems(engineering) and the other started multiple fires killing morecrew. This caused a total of ten hull points of damage andeleven point of crew damage, but Clay rolled well so his closeblast doors saved four of the hull points. There was no othershots this turn as nothing else was within range. There was alsonothing to do during the damage control part of the turn.Turn 2Now that the preliminary testing of the ground was over, this isthe turn where we really started to mix it up. Clay held off hischarge until the distance between the fleets closed a little hopingto reduce the number of free shots the Earth Alliance would et athim. Michael continued to target the Centauri only Beamweapon ships hoping to pound them into dust before they causedtoo much damage. Once again, the fist initiative roll was a tie,but then to our surprise, Michael won the initiative forcing Clayto move first.14

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006EarthAllianceCentauriRepublicRacial Roll Total WinnerMod+1 7 / 8 8 / 9 Tie / Win+3 5 / 3 8 / 6 Tie / LoseMovementThis time Clay put the pedal to the metal and using the “Allpower to engines” special action advance his first two MaximusFrigates. In response, Michael moved his fleet forward turninghis Apollo and a couple of his Hyperians to meet the oncomingthreat and hoping to open up more fire arc. All Michael’s specialaction were “Close Blast Doors” except for the Nova whichagain tried to get two flights out the door. This time the Novapassed so it launched its last two flights.When Clay saw that not all his Frigates had to kick it in gear toget in the battle, he moved the last two normally allowing themto close their blast doors. The Altarian, which is the slowestship in Clay’s fleet, had to put all power to the engines just tokeep up. The first Dargan, decided to concentrate all fire on theNova, while the second decided to close its blast doors. The lastship to move was the Nova, which decided to move righ smackdab into the middle of the battle allowing it to target ships inALL arcs. Of course, this also meant that he just became a hugetarget of opportunity as well.For the fighters, most fell back away from the fighting, the oneexception being that Clay sent one flight in to annoy the Nova.CombatSince the ships were now a whole lot closer, the combat part ofthe turn was much more intense this time. Michael started byletting loose with the Nova. He targeted the Dargan in front ofhim, a Maximus frigate on the starboard side, another on theport., and yet a third in the rear. On the Maximus frigates heused his cannons in beam mode thus bypassing their intercep-tors. The shots on the Dargan were amazing! With eight attachdice (albeit twin linked) he scored six hits. The amazing partcame when four of these hits turned out to be critical, and ofthose, two were vital systems and two were on the engine. Michaeljust kept rolling six after six and the poor Dargan reallytook it up the shorts. All told, he took seventeen hull hits (onlythree of which Clay saved against) and sixteen crew hits. Thatquickly the Dargan was down to a skeleton crew. Against theFrigates the Nova didn’t fare nearly as well, scoring one solidhit on Maximus one, three solid hits and a minor crit on Maximustwo, and two solid hits on Maximus four.Clay’s Dargan, that was just pummeled and probably not longfor this battle, tried to get one last shot out targeting the Apollolurking in the rear with his battle laser. Due to being on a skeletoncrew, he would only be able to fire a single weapon system.Pathetically, clay rolled a 2 and a 3 with his attack dice completelymissing the Apollo. Michael’s next two ships to firewere a couple of the Hyperians which end up finishing off theDargan with a total of three more solid hits and yet another criticalhit to vital systems. The ship is both de-crewed and the hullbreached so it ends up running adrift for the rest of the game.The Hyperians that finished it off also targeted Maximus threebut missed all their shots at it.While the Dargan was getting pummeled, Clay tried to do thesame to the Nova but not with quite the same spectacular results.The Nova ends up taking a lot of hits from all quarters, fifteenhull hits and fifteen crew hits in all, and although its crippled,it’s still in the fight.After Clay’s first Dargan fell, the rest of Michael’s ship turnedtheir loving attention to the second Dargan and again had somespectacular results. The Apollo started it off with five hits fromhis advance missiles and two of these were critical hits. Tomake matters worse, one of the critical hits turned out to be acatastrophic explosion. All told, the previously untouched Dargantook 13 crew hits, and fifteen hull hits (after saving againstseven!). One of the Hyperian followed up scoring two hits both15

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006of which werecritical hits! Totop it all off, oneof these criticalhits also ended upwith anothercatastrophic explosion!Thistime the hull wasbreached enoughto destroy theship. Michaelslast Hyperian tookshots at the AltarianDestroyerbut missed andalso fired at one ofthe Maximus Frigatesscoring asolid hit.Clay, when notfiring at the Nova,tried to concentrateany spareweapons on oneof the Hyperians(green) and did manage to take down about half its hull and halfits crew, but little else since none of the hits ended up causingcritical damage. One of the Maximus did manage to get shot offat two different flights of fighters and nailed both of them. Theturn ended again without any damage control rolls needed.Clay’s CommentsGood grief!!! I have never seen someone consistently roll somany six’s!! Just so you know, after a hit is scored you need toroll three consecutive sixes to get a catastrophic explosion. Michaeldid it twice this turn! Of the 18 total hits he scored, fullyhalf (9) ended up as critical hits. When measured against mythree crits out of 21 hits, it makes you a tad depressed. Well,this turn I got my shorts handed to me in a big way. With bothmy beams out of the game already, I’d better hope my MaximusFrigates can overpower his fleet with sheer dice.Turn 3Well, the Centauri Republic is not looking good. Already twoof its biggest ships are dead, and so far, the only kills they havescores is taking out a couple flights of fighters. If they don’tturn it around soon this could end up being a short game. Claymanages to get the initiative this time again due to the racialmodifier and makes Michael move first.EarthAllianceCentauriRepublicRacial Roll Total WinnerMod+1 9 10+3 9 12 WinMovementThe movement for this turn was interesting. Both fleets essentiallyhad to pass through the other. The Earth Alliance shipsare slower and lessmaneuverable, soMichael decided tokick it into gearand get out ofdodge. Three ofhis Hyperians did“All power to engines”to try toclear the area. TheNova could do littlebut try and getoff a shot beforethe end came. TheApollo moved aslittle as possible sothat he would notwind up in front ofthe maneuveringMaximus Frigates.Clay, tried split hisremaining ship intotwo groups, onegroup (the Altarian,and a single MaximusFrigate) pulledan “All stop” inorder to target the Apollo and get some close in shots at the Hyperiansrunning down their sides. The other three MaximusFrigates all attempted to “Come About” so that they could fall inbehind the Hyperians. As it turned out, all three failed theircrew checks so none of them could perform the action, thusnone of them could bring targets into their forward firs arc fortheir main guns.CombatCombat was short this turn as all the Maximus Frigates couldnot fire their main guns at a target, so Clay’s shots only consistedof some Particle Gun shots (normally an anti-fighterweapon) with witch he managed to score one solid hit on theNova. The Altarian was Clay’s only real weapon this turn, andit was the first to fire and it opened up with everything it hadsince this time, he was the one that had targets in every fire are.His main gun went after the Apollo, and the other weapons firedon Nova and three different Hyperians all arrayed around him.Due to some poor rolling on Clay’s part, and good rolling onMichael’s part, all hits on the Apollo and two of the Hyperianswere stopped by interceptors. Only hits on the Nova (who hadno interceptors any more) and on the green Hyperian (who usedup the interceptors blocking hits from the previous weaponssystem) got through, but again, only three solid hits wherescored on each, none of them being critical. The Nova is nowCrippled and in skeleton crew status.Michael decides that its time to take out the Altarian Destroyerand uses it for target practice. Every ship in the Earth Alliancefires anything it can at the hapless Altarian managing tostack up a total of seen solid hits and two critical hits. The Criticalhits take out an additional seen crew and 2 points withoutfurther crippling the ship. Michaels also fires a number of otherweapons systems at a few of the Maximus Frigates and the annoyingfighters, but fails to cause any hits as Interceptors, and16

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006MovementThe first four ship Clay moves are all his Frigates. Three of the,the ones that tried to come about and failed, all neatly fall inbehind the fleeing Hyperains. The fourth pulls a stop and pivotand though it won’t be able to fire this turn, it is at least backinto formation with the other frigates. By the time it gets aroundto the Altarian’s turn to move he decides where he is at is justfine and since he was already at all stop, he just stays put.The Earth Alliance ships all try to move away from the fightingso they could hopefully turn around. Knowing this is going tobe a rough turn, they all close blast doors and brace for impact.Only the Apollo has any choice in what it does and it maneuversto open up as many fire arcs as possible, and Clay through twoflights of fighter onto the Apollo to see if they can do anything.the dodge ability of the fighters prevents any of the hits fromgetting through. Of the two dog fights that occur, Clay wins onekilling a third flight of Michael’s Fighters, and the other is a tieso nothing happens. Again the turn ends with no damage controlas ships that have damage not caused on this turn are eitherdead or beyond repairing themselves.Clay’s CommentsWell, at least that turn things were not QUITE as painful. Atleast Michael’s continuous string of sixes seems to have sloweddown. Since I failed to ever single crew test this turn, and wasunable to bring any of my Frigates around, I didn’t cause verymuch damage this turn. Oh, and I’m about to lose my last bigship, but at least this next turn I should be able to get all myMaximus Frigates into the fray. Then I get to see how effectivetheir main guns are.CombatHis turn its Michaels turn to not have very many shots as threeof his ships have nothing to shoot at as they reload their missile.Since Michael won the initiative, he goes first with his dyingNova Targeting the Altarian with the one weapon system it isallowed. It scores three solid hit and a critical hit which preventsthe Cruiser from firing out of its rear arc which is wheremost of the Hyperains happen to be. After this the Altarianopens up on the Apollo and the Hyperian to its port side, but theinterceptors from both ships prevent any of the hits from gettingthrough.The Apollo then returns fire and scored five hits on the Altarian,two of which are crits, and this puts the Altarian into skeletoncrew status. The Apollo also manages to shoot down bothflights of fighters that came after it. After the Apollo is finished,only one other shot comes from the Earth Alliance and that isfrom the Blue Hyperian and it scores one more solid hit o theAltarian.The lead two Centauri Frigates, the only two that can engagethis turn, finally get to use their main guns again. One opens upTurn 4This turn looks a bit challenging for the Earth Alliance as theylook to be in a poor position. With the Maximus Frigate behindthe Hyperians, and the Nova about to go down, only the Apollois in a position to cause significant damage For the Centauri, allthe big ship are either destroyed or next to useless, so now alldepends on how well the frigates can do. Michael decides heREALLY wants initiative this time and rolls a whopping 11against Clay’s little roll of a four. The Centauri racial bonusfails to save him this time, and Clay has to move first.EarthAllianceCentauriRepublicRacial Roll Total WinnerMod+1 11 12 Win+3 4 617


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006on the Nova scoring 5 hits two of which cause no damage. Thethree remaining solid hit though are enough to finally kill theNova and it goes adrift.Turn 5This turn starts with five movable ships on either side, but onceagain the Centauri are closing in on the rear of the larger part ofthe Earth Alliance remaining fleet. This turn should see moreweapons fire than the previous two turns since everyone shouldbe in range, and the Earth Alliance ships are all reloaded. Claythis time surprises himself with a roll of box cars for initiative sohe makes Michael go first.EarthAllianceCentauriRepublicRacial Roll Total WinnerMod+1 4 5+3 12 15 WinMovementThe Earth Alliance Hyperian fleet , continue in their rough formationto make their slow way around the dead planet. Becausethey need to turn, none of them can take the time to close blastdoors. The Apollo, pretty far behind, this time decides to catchup to the rest of the fleet and puts all power to engines.The Centauri do the obvious and settle into firing positions behindand to the sides of the Hyperians hoping to so some realdamage this time. All the frigates close their blast dorrs exceptone, this one instead concentrates all fire power on the Blue Hy-perian. The Altarian, pretty much useless at this point, makes aslow turn to the right hoping that perhaps it can catch the Hyperiansas the come out the other side of the planet. In the meantime it can take pot shots with the one weapon system it is allowed.CombatThe shooting starts with the Maximus that is concentrating itsfire on the Blue Hyperian, and he scores eight hits only two ofwhich get blocked by interceptors. Of these, one is a bulkheadhit, one is a critical hit, and the rest are solid hits doing a total of5 hull hits, and 6 crew hits. The Earth Alliance returns fire fromthe Green Hyperian but interceptors block the one hit it scores.Next to fire is another Maximus at the same blue Hyperian.This time there are no interceptors, so all five hits score getthrough, but of these one causes no damage and the other fourare all solid hits. Again fire is returned by a Hyperian, and thistime only three of the five hits are blocked so two solid hits arescored on Maximus One.Maximus One, just having received a small bit of damage, targetsthe center Hyperion in front of him and lets loose. He managesto score four hits, but three of them are blocked by interceptors,so only a single solid hit gets through. Again a Hyperiantargets Maximus one and scores a critical hit on its engines.The fourth and final Maximus target the Green Hyperian againas it is the most damaged of the Hyperians, and when six hits arescored on it, and one of them causes a catastrophic explosion, itgoes up in a huge fire ball and even causes a critical hit on theHyperian behind it takingout its engines and leavingin a sitting duck for nextturn. The next Hyperianto fire must have beenshaken by all of this as itonly managed to scare onehit and this was againblocked by interceptors.The final ships to fire arethe two remaining bigships. The Altarian managesto score two hits onthe Apollo, but both areblocked by interceptors.The Apollo is a little luckierand scores anothersolid hit on the Altarian,and more importantly,scores two critical hits,and one solid hit on Maximusone. One of the criticalhits takes out its engines,so it too is nowdead in space until repaired.The final twoflights of fighters are in adog fight and their combatis tied so they remain19

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006locked in combat.Clay’s CommentsOkay, that was cool. It’s funny how my little ships seem tokicking tail where my big ships couldn’t do squat. I’m startingto think that the tables have turned and Michael may have a hardtime pulling this one out. The Hyperians are almost uselessagainst my Maximus Frigates, so if I can take out that annoyingApollo, the rest should be a walk in the park.Turn 6The Earth Alliance Hyperians continue to struggle to shrug offthe pursuing Maximus Frigates. Their missile rack only beingable to fire every other round is really starting to hurt them asthey can’t hope to match the number of shots coming in at them.To make matters worst, their hull is only five where the hull onthe frigates is six. Only the Apollo seems to be causing significantdamage on them, but it’s simple taking too long. Both Michaeland Clay roll eights for initiative, so again the Racial bonuswin the day and Michael goes first.EarthAllianceCentauriRepublicRacial Roll Total WinnerMod+1 8 9+3 8 11 WinMovementIn a desperate attempt to open up a more fire arcs, both remainingHyperians capable of movement attempt to come about.One fails, one does not. The Apollo skims in close to the planetso that it can use the gravity to help catch it up to the other shipsand closes his blast doors in the process.As for the Centauri, the Maximus Frigates each pick a target andget nice and close to it. The one frigate that can’t move couldn’tbe happier since he is already in a great position to pound intothe paralyzed Hyperian. The Altarian continues it laborious turnand this time takes it completely out of range. There are twoMaximus Frigates that concentrate on the Apollo, and one eachon the Yellow Hyperian, and blue Hyperian.CombatThe first Maximus to fire fires a full load into the Apollo, but allare blocked by the interceptors. But the interceptors are all butused up, so the next salvo might do something. He also scored ahit on the yellow Hyperian, but it too is blocked. The Apollothen take a shot at the distant Altarian, trying to finish it off, butfails to hit it.Next another Maximus fires its main batteries into the Blue Hyperian.His interceptors do poorly and only block one of sevenhits. Amazingly, all six fail to score critical hits, but still the sixsolid hits nearly cripple and de-crew the Hyperian. He alsotakes a pot shot at the Yellow Hyperian doing nothing more thanmaking use up one more of this turns interceptors to block thehit. Since this is a turn when most of the aft missile racks arebeing reloaded, the Hyperians don’t get a lot of shots, and theshots they do get either miss or are blocked. This turn the onlydamage the Earth Alliance causes is that they win the dog fightkilling the last of the Centauri fighters.The Centauri however still have more guns to fire and do sowith great gusto. Another Maximus unloads into the Apollo(this time without interceptors) dealing out three solid hits andone critical hit to its engines slowing it down even further. Theother Maximus does the same to the Yellow Hyperian scoringseven hit. Amazingly, three of these are bulkhead hits doing nodamage, and none of the remaining four are critical hits.After ActionAfter the beating Michael took in turn six, it was rather obviousthat to continue the game would be more sadistic than instructional.Of the Remaining Earth Alliance ships, only the Apolloand the red Hyperian were healthy. The Yellow Hyperian wasonly half shot up, but it could not move and had a Maximusparked with its guns pointed right at it. The Blue Hyperianwould not last much longer as it was about out of damagepoints.For the Centauri Republic, the Altarian was only limping by ona skeleton crew and did not have a whole lot left to its hull either.However, none of the Maximus frigates were very bad off,the worst one only having 6 points of damage on its hull, thougha couple more hits would have put him into a skeleton crew.Michael’s CommentsWell, that could have gone better. The tactics of holding backand pummeling the Beam-equipped ships worked well. By thethird turn, they were gone and at the end of the fourth the otherlarge ship wasn't worth spit. That left the Maximus, however.Those little buggers, with a combination of Hull 6, 10d6 twinlinked guns, and a 2/45 turn rate, were swarming my Hyperians.I couldn't run away fast enough and wasn't maneuverableenough to bring my weapons to bear. When we quit, it was withthe knowledge that the Maximus would pull down a Hyperianper turn. The limited dice that could be thrown in any arc againsta target with Hull 6 and Interceptor/1 meant that I would take atleast 2 turns to pull down a single Maximus while their 10d6twin linked hitting on 5+ would ravage my Hyperians.The Apollo would hold out better - though he would probablyfall in the end. He's as slow as Christmas, but the Hull 6 andInterceptor/3 kinda makes up for this. His limited weapons arcmeans he can't get anywhere close to the action.The Nova did what I expected him to do - and survived a turnlonger than I thought. In a close battle, he bought his worth outof the Centauri. The Hyperians did as well - in fact, most of myfleet did as I expected - however, the Maximus ships were moreof a threat than I gave them credit for.Some folks will ask about why I took the Hyperians (who didn'tget the missile upgrades) rather than some Sagittarius cruisers.Well, truth be told, I don't have any Sagittarius cruisers - and so"the counter mix is a limit". In retrospect, investing in a pair ofthose would have been better. In fact, bringing ships (like theApollo) who can field the special missiles is worth it. I think theMissile Cruiser force is still workable but maybe not with theHyperians - as the Special Missiles appear to be the key.20

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006Clay’s CommentsWell, that was educational. The first third of the game I gotsimply tromped. Then the middle third seemed like nothingreally happened, and then the last third the Centauri came intotheir own. I have to wonder though, the entire game my rollingREALLY sucked. And yet still at the end it looked like theEarth Alliance ships didn’t have a chance. I mean if things werea little more equal in the dice rolling arena, it seems that theEarth Alliance ships would not have had a chance from the beginning.Those interceptors are cool, but they might only getyou through the first attacking ship that turn. Then, any otherweapons fire coming in gets to poke at you for free. I didn’treally get the purpose of the fighters. They never really did anythingthe whole game but buzz around and get shot. Theirweapons aren’t very good and their defenses are only goodagainst ships that don’t have anti-fighter weapons. I guess theyadd flavor more than anything.are what it is all about. Not getting critical hits means you haveto peck a ship to death, where one good critical hit can effectivelyif not literally kill a ship. If that’s true, then it seems havinga whole slew of small ships would be better than having asmaller number of big ships. After this battle, I could be easilytalked into field a huge fleet of nothing but Maximus Frigates tosee how they would fare.Written and played by J Michael Tisdel and Clay RichmondMichael kept telling me that beam weapon rule this game, but heclobbered mine so fast that I was never able to tell if that wastrue or not. But on the surface of it, I’m not sure guess rolling10 dice and allowing interceptors to interdict, verses rolling twodice to bypass the interceptors, isn’t the better deal anyway(especially if someone else already used up the interceptors foryou). One thing that is VERY true though, is that critical hits21

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006Fantasy LandscapesWell, this issue I have to admit that the project that I chose tobuild was motivated by selfish reasons. I’m currently involvedin a game of D&D, and I wanted a special setup for an importantencounter that is coming up. What I had in mind was inspiredby the outstanding dungeon system put out by Dwarven Forge,which I have used before. But since I don’t actually own any oftheir interlocking dungeon system, I figured I would have to seeabout building my own.What I needed was a large room that looked like a place ofpower for the minions of hell. In other words some place thatwould not look all that friendly to a bunch of fun loving politicallycorrect good guys. Looking through my box-o-bits oftenhelps me with coming up with imaginative ideas and this timewas no exception. I found that I had a whole bunch of left overheads from some Games Workshop Ogre Kingdoms Bulls that Irecently assembled. Now having a these heads mounted alongthe walls of some unholy place surely would be somethingworth building. So off to work I went.I decided that for ease of storage I wanted manageable sizedpieces, but for ease of assembly I wanted as large of pieces aspossible, so I ended up choosing my standard form size to be sixinches by six inches. For the size room I had in mind, thatwould mean that four squares would give me a 12”x12” room,and I decided that I could make that work. But I also wanted tohave a shrine in the middle for this particular encounter, butdidn’t want toforce the use ofthe shrine wheneverI used theother pieces, so Icame up with asmall designmodification thatwould allow someflexibility. In theend, I decided tobuild up five mainpieces to form theroom. This waythe center piecewith the shrinecould be removed and a plain floor piece substituted if youwanted a different set-up.Also, to my growing list of pieces to build, I added four doors. Iwanted to make it so I could add the doors only if desired, so themain room pieces would only have a two inch gap where thedoors would fit in. Also, since the doors I was going to buildhave no moving parts, I needed to build two versions of each ofthe doors; one open, and one closed. The final small piece Iwanted was something to put at the top of the dais. Again, thiswas something that I wanted to be interchangeable so it had tobe a separate piece.At first look this project may seem a bit ambitious, but in actualityit’s not all that bad, that is if you happen to have a nice set ofmolds from Hirst Arts to make all the pieces. Since Iwanted a rough “stone” finished look (or perhaps a“Dungeon” look), I used his mostly molds from hisFieldstone and his Dragon’s Teeth series. Glue thebricks together goes fairly fast, and in truth, it’s thedesign, making of the bricks and the painting thattakes the majority of the time.22


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006I started with the floors of the five primarypieces without yet adding the walls. Most ofthe tile pieces I used for this came from theFlagstone Floor Tile Mold (#260). The exceptionsbeing the lava pits which came fromthe Large Flagstone Accessory Mold (#266)and the “Blood Bath” under the shrine whichI created from pieces actually meant to be anarrow slit that are found in the FieldstoneAccessories Mold (#71). Working with thesebricks is really a piece of cake, and the HirstArts web site has a great amount of tips andtricks to help you with all the basics. Inshort, after I used his molds to build up a nicestash of Plaster of Paris bricks, I used everyday Tacky Glue to glue them all together.My normal mode is to first lay out the piecesI intend to glue together on a flat surface coveredwith wax paper. Then I quickly gluethem all together putting them in place as Igo. After that, I use blocks of wood tosqueeze them all together making themstraight, square, and tight. This always causes glue to squeezeout which is okay since too much is better than too little (hencethe wax-paper), but I do dap up excess glue with a paper towel.This will need to dry for at least an hour before going on to thenext step, but if you are going to move on to do the other pieces,it will probably take you that much time before you can get backto it anyway. You’ll notice in the pictures that all my brickslook gray rather than the stark white that Plaster of Paris normallylooks like. That is becauseI always add in some black powderedpaint into my Plaster ofParis. The reason for this is sothat should there be any damageto the piece, through normal useand wear and tear, where someof the paint is chipped off, smallspecks of gray are not usually asnoticeable as small specks ofLilly-white. For this particularproject, brown powdered paintwould have been better, but Ididn’t want to start up anothercollection of bricks of anothercolor.When you do get back to it, thenext step is to build up the walls.But before doing that, I had aspecial piece I needed to buildfor the heads that I wanted tomount. Using two pieces fromthe Fieldstone Accessories Mold(#71) and a basic block from theFieldstone Wall Mold (#70) Ibuilt what would normally hadbeen a recessed arch. But Iwanted a flat mounting surfaceso I mixed up some more Plasterof Paris but this time made it abit runnier than normal and filled in the arch about three quartersof the way. After this dried, I took a craft knife and a very smallpiece of sand paper to clean it up an square off the edges givingme a nice flat mounting surface. After completing a total oftwelve of these little babies (I needed three for each of the fourouter pieces), I was ready to build up the walls.After building up all the walls, and again letting them dry for aperiod of time, the next to finishing off the outer four pieces wasto add a few ornamental touches. This came in the form of walltorches and stone idol. The torches came from the mold #70 andthe flames I got from the Gothic Dungeon Mold (#45). As forthe idol, the face came from the Fieldstone Bridge Mold (#74)and the base that I liked the best for this setting came from theDragon’s Teeth Accessory Mold (#80).The circular steps that I wanted for the dais actually took me awhile to figure out, and I was happily surprised that I could actuallycome up with a pretty good solution. The first step has aradius of two and a half inches, and the interior tile pieces fromthe 6” Round Fieldstone Mold (#73) happen to fit the bill. Thenext two steps had a radius of two inches and one and a halfinches respectively and came from the 4” Round FieldstoneMold (#72). The top of the dais used a curved step from mold #71 and the interior curved filler again came from mold #72. To24

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006support the step, Iput a couple of regularblocks underthem rather than fillthe enclosed spaceunder the steps withmore curved pieces.You couldn’t seethem and the usingthat many curvedpieces would mean abunch more runswith the molds to getenough, so I took theeasy way out. Ofcourse, since theblocks are square Ihad to sand somecorners of so thatthey would fit well.as possible. I ended up witha design that used the skullfrom mold #70, the spikesfrom mold #80, and the teethfrom mold #73. The doorcomes from the Gothic AdditionalAccessories Mold(#44) though the door inmold #71 could work just aswell. These door pieces fitinto the two inch wide openingthat I left in the walledpieces and are supported with angled blocks that will rest on thewalls to either side of the doorway.For the last ornamental piece that I would put on the dais, I simplyglued a Dragon skull from mold #80 onto a pedestal I madefrom pieces found in mold #74, this took all or maybe three seconds.That ended the construction phase. Now on to the painting.The next step was to do the center piece that held the shrine. Tostart with, the floor was simply a 6” x 6” tile section with mylittle “Blood Pool” in the exact center. For the Shrine itself, Ibuilt up the roof, then added the legs and finally glued the wholething to the floor. For the stone peaks in the roof I used piecesfrom the Fieldstone Bridge Mold (#74) along with some regularfieldstone tile pieces. Then the arches on the two ends camefrom mold #71 and the side arches from mold #70. The sidearches turned out to not quite fit in the space I had (the spacingbetween the pillars was the important part) so I had to sand off aquarter inch off the end of each of the blocks used to make thearch. For the slate roof I used the pieces from the Gothic RoofMold (#235). Under the roof I used angled blocks to give methe slope I wanted. The large tooth shapes that decorate the roofspines, the twisted pillars, as well as the clawed feet they aresupported by, all come from the Dragon’s Teeth Mold (#80).The final touch was the gargoyle above each of the arches on theends. The gargoyles are from the Gothic Panel AccessoriesMold (#43) while the shelf I have him sitting on is a piece frommold #74.The last significant construction would be the doors. After youcome up with a design you like, these things are pretty cookiecutter. I of course wanted something that looked as forebodingThe first two steps of the painting process is the easy part. First,Plaster of Paris really likes to soak up the paint, so I like to sealit with a very thick primer coat. For this job I leaned the hardway that spray painting just doesn’t seem to get the job done in areasonable amount of time and effort, so I hand brush a flatblack base paint (straight from the hardware store) onto everyvisible surface, and I lay it on thick. You can go through somesignificant paint here, so make sure you don’t waste your moneyby getting expensive paint. This process normally takes twocoats, though the second coat does not need to be nearly as25

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006heavy, and the primary purpose of the second coat is simply tocatch all the spots that will appear as the paint dries from thefirst coat. You will probably still have a few spots that show upthe second time around, but I don’t usually worry about these,they are not significant to worry about and they get taken care ofin the next barrage of paint.putting on too much paint. After the base coat has a chance toget good and dry, time to brush on the highlighting. For this Iused a beige color and dry-brushed it on all the areas where I didnot think I would be later be specifically painting (such as thetorches and idols for instance). I also painted the backdrops ofwhere I planned on mounting the “heads” a flat black so at tomake the heads stand out a little better.For the next step, which is putting on the base color of thepieces, I do resort to spray painting, or in this case, air brushing.For my base coat I decided to go with a dark brown earthy color,and again, I sprayed just about every visible surface trying tomake sure that there was nothing left uncovered. When doingthis, you will notice that the paint does not soak in nearly asmuch, so make sure you don’t over do it and obscure detail byNow the time to mount the heads came. For this task, I mixedup some two part epoxy and carefully applied it to each headand centered it under its assigned arch. After I finished with alltwelve, and allowed enough time for the epoxy to dry, the realpainting could start. This is where I went through each pieceand painted any and all detail that I felt needed it. This includesthe torches, the lava pits, the bath of blood, the idols, the gargoyles,the doors, and of course most of all the heads mountedon the walls.26

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006As a final touch to the lava pits and the bath of blood under theshrine, I added, over the painted bottoms, something called“Water Effects” from Woodland Scenics. This is pretty coolstuff and it’s very easy to use. It has a paste like consistencyand you squeeze in what you want, shape it if needed, and thenlet it dry. It will dry clear and essentially take its color from theway you painted the bottom. This gives the lava pits and theblood bath a really cool 3-D look to them.After all the painting was completed, I took all the pieces andsprayed them down with a couple of coats of spray on polyurethane.This stuff you can get at any hardware store and it puts anice hard protective coat on the bricks. Make sure you don’t usea high gloss, because even a satin finish will give you somethingof a shine and a high gloss will overpower your painting.The final step ofthe whole projectwas to add paddingto the bottomsof the bigpieces, and to thesides and bottomsof the doors(this way I couldfit them into theiropenings withoutscraping andpaint off. This ispretty simple asall you do is cutfelt to the neededshape, and thenusing the sameTacky glue that Iused to put thebricks together,glued it intoplace. After that,you are ready forgaming. TheHellish Ogresyou see in thepictures are theGames WorkshopOgre KingdomsBulls that Imentioned (as are theheads mounted onthe walls) and theywere painted up byBlue Table with thispiece specifically inmind. If you havenot tried using theBlue Table paintingservice, you aremissing out. I wasmore than a littleimpressed with notonly their work, butwith their organizationand turn aroundtime.I hope that this completedset is only thestart of my modular dungeon. I found the entire process to befairly easy and quick. The hardest part was painting themounted heads, so perhaps painting them before mounting themmight be an option, but all in all, I am really happy with the wayit turned out and the level of effort I thought was worth it.Written and build by Clay Richmond27


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006PIP72007 Woldwarden$24.99 (1 figure and data card)Seven pieces make up this large warbeast for the Circle Orborosfaction of Hordes. It is a construct made of wood and stone andlooks like it will be very easy to paint. There are glyphs all overthe stones and these have been sculpted into the figure to makepainting them quite easy. Assembly was very easy with thismodel. The arms fit onto the body with large joints that allowfor some posing options if you like. There is a small separate“thumb” piece that goes on the left hand. The head looks like abig stone block that’s been carved to give it some basic humanoidfeatures like eyes and cheekbones, but still retains a veryrustic and simple appearance. The legs fit together with a smallball and socket joint and then they fit onto the torso of the figure,which is one solid piece.Like I said, assembly wasvery easy and there were nofiddly bits to deal with.There were a few bits offlash that needed cleaning,but the mold lines were undetectable.It went togetherquickly and is sitting on mypainting table, waiting itsturn to be painted and addedto my Circle Orboros troops.The figure reminds me a bit of a Wicker Man, but obviouslywith more stone making up his body, and considerably smallerin size. Still, it’s cool nonetheless and could serve well in D&Das a golem or some other kind of construct..Review by Mark TheurerHYSCAV1 Hydrissian Scavenger Drone$13.90 (1 figure)If you immediately have flashbacks to the drone robots in TheMatrix movies then I’mright there with you. Ofcourse, there are some differences,as the body ofthese are less round and a bitmore flat than those in themovies but they still havethe same feel. Twelvepieces make up the modeland each needed somecleaning. They all had somesort of visible mold line withthe most prominent beingacross the front of the canopy or shell of the drone. On the undersideof the shell there are twelve spots that need to be filled.One, at the center, will be taken up by the clear flight stand. Itwill fit into the body with a bit of room to spare, but should gluei n there pretty well. The large 40mm round plastic base hassome round spaces on the underside that can be cut out to accommodatewhat would normally be a peg at the foot of a metalminiature, but the flight stand is a bit too wide around and you’lleither end up cutting more out of the plastic base to make it fitor just gluing it down to the top of the base. I’m a bit worriedabout the long term stability of the flight stand, but it’s really anintegral part of the model and I could be over-worrying thesituation. Using some epoxy to attach the clear stand to the baseand then some cotton fluff to hide the epoxy and simulate somesmoke or dust being kicked up might be the best solution.You really have free reign when choosing which of the eleven“arms” to put where on the underside of the model and there’sno reason for any two drone models to be exactly alike. There isone piece that’s looks more like it would belong as a “tail” thanthe others, but you could drop it in wherever you like. Of theother ten pieces there are duplicates of five pieces, except theyare not all really exact duplicates. Three of the squiggly appendagesare the same in form, and presumably function, buthave slightly different sizes. What I mean is that their bladesmight be slightly different in length or something like that. It’snoticeable that they are not perfectly symmetrical, but it doesn’treally de tract from the model since you don’t need to positionthem directly opposite of each other. There’s also a bit of bendabilityto some of the arms and you could carefully repositionthem if you wanted.In spite of what I feel is the rather breakable nature of the flyingstand I like the figure very much and have to say that it’s probablymy favorite of the whole Alpha Forge line! I plan to use it,them really as I picked up three of them, as some type of securityrobot in Rezolution, but they could easily be dropped intoanother miniatures or sci-fi rpg.YAG1 Yagamuna warrior advancing$3.30 (1 figure)Alpha Forge has treated us witha new treat this go around bystarting a new line of 28mmfantasy miniatures called DarkTribes of the Abyss. The firstof these are what they are callingYagamuna, or ‘Deep goblins’.This model is the first onthe block of these strange alienlooking creatures. The model isa single pieces solid cast modelcomplete with a round plasticslotta base. There is only the29

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006barest hint of a mold line on his bare legs, and wicked lookingsword, and excess metal is limited to only a couple spurs. Thedetail around the head is pretty interesting giving the thingsomething of a bat like look with the exception of it’s very elongatedhead. Bumping into a bunch of these dudes in a dark placeis sure to give anyone the heebie jeebies.YAG2 Yagamuna warrior shooting crossbow$3.30 (1 figure)The second in the line of Yagamunais this guy who is armed with a compactlooking crossbow. One thingabout these guys is that they are allblind, and in fact don’t even haveeyes. Instead they use sonar, like abat, to substitute for their vision. Iguess if they are using missile weapons,the substitution works prettywell. This model is a single piecemodel and also comes with theround plastic slotta base. As far asmolds lines and excess metal, thisguy is even cleaner than the first and is essentially ready to paintright out the bag. The detail on these guys’ shields is pretty cool,and each one of the different casts has a different looking shield,which also is pretty neat in my book.YAG3 Yagamuna warrior attacking$3.30 (1 figure)This guy is the next in the series of“Deep goblins”, and this time, insteadof a sword, he is carrying anaxe that is just as nasty looking.This model comes in three piecesnot counting the round plastic slottabase. The shield this time comes asits own piece, and this time theshield has even a different shape toit as well as unique emblem emblazonedon it. The shield attaches tothe arm that it supposed to be holdingit just with a flat face joint. Thenext piece however is the other arm holding its axe and thispiece attaches with a nice little pin at the shoulder. All thepieces are happily clean of flash, so the only prep work neededis cleaning off a few mold lines. Once assembled, the model iswell balanced, and has not discernable weak points. This is anothergood addition to the Yagamuna war party.YAG4 Yagamuna warrior loading crossbow$3.30 (1 figure)This model is another pose of the Yagamuna warrior armed witha crossbow. This one is in the process of putting a quarrel inplace. The model in a single piece solid cast model and comeswith the standard round plastic slotta base. Like the other modelsin this series, he is relatively free of flash and molds lines sohe cleans up quick and easy. Also like the previous models, it’sa good quality casting with no weak points or balance issues. Itseems that the Yagamuna don’t have much need of clothes asthe primary garment I’ve seen on the warrior is an extra longloin cloth. The also have the occasional bit of armor, and theyhave leather straps banding their feet, but for the most part theyappear to depend on their hidemore than anything else forprotection. This should makefor easy painting.YAG5 Yagamuna champion$3.60 (1 figure)This is where we start gettinginto the more elaborate Yagamuna.This one is heavilyarmored with well made andornate armor complete withembossed symbols similar tothose found on their shields. The helmets are pretty interestingsince there is no need to have visors or any other accommodationsmade for sight. The model comes in three pieces notcounting the round plastic slotta base that is also included. Theright arm comes detached and fits into the shoulder with a nicepin. The shield also comes detachedand it glues to the side of the modelover the left arm with a flat face toface joint. This guy’s shield, like hisattire, is a tad bit fancier than the runof the mill warrior’s that we’ve seenbefore. All the pieces came completelyfree of flash and only thevague hint of mold lines, so cleanupon this guy is a breeze. This is apretty cool looking Yagamuna, andI’m hoping that Alpha Forge comesout with more of these heavily armoredtypes.YAG6 Yagamuna shaman$3.90 (1 figure)No Dark tribe of the Abyss would be complete without someonethat dabbles in the mystic arts. The Yagamuna are no exception.This model depicts a Yagamuna shaman either flying or in midleapwith his finger pointed forward as if in the midst of castinga spell or something. The model come in two pieces and is suppliedwith a round plastic slotta base. The one piece that is notattached to the main torso is the left arm which carries a largestaff that has what appears to be a skull of a ram mounted on thetop of it. The staff is longand fairly slender, so youmay well have tostraighten it when it comesout of it’s packaging.There were some minormetal spurs to knock offand a few mold lines toclean up, but for the mostpart the model is veryclean and free of debris.The left arm attaches tothe shoulder with a smallpin making a good solidjoint. For a model that hasboth it’s feet up in air, thefigure is neither fragile atthe base nor over balanced.30

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006Something that caught my eye on this guy is that he is actuallywearing a leather cap, which is no small task given the size andshape of these guys’ heads, but it, and the other paraphernalia hehas at his hip is a good way to identify this dudes rank and station.YAGWASP1 Yagamuna Giant Wasp Rider$26.50 (1 mounted figure)Okay, this model is pretty cool. It will also be a model that willtake you more than a moment of two to assemble. In total, thereare fourteen different metalpieces, plus a large 2” plasticbase, and a clear plasticmounting rod. The list ofpieces goes like this; six legs,two antenna, giant wasp body,giant wasp head, two wing,main torso of the rider, andright arm w/ weapon of therider. As you can see, this guycomes with “some assemblyrequired”. Luckily, though there are a lot of pieces, the sculpterhas engineered this model pretty well. All the part of the wasp(and the riders arm) fit together very well using pin in socketjoints, and all seem to fit quite well, and make for good joints.Of course, with six legs, two wings, two antenna and a longlance all sticking out in different directions, I dare say thatshould you knock over or drop this piece, you’ll be pickingmore than one back up. The lance, which measures three and ahalf inches long, is easily bent, so it will probably have to bestraightened before assembly. The good news is that even withall the small pieces, flash and excess metal spurs were mostlyabsent. There were a few mold lines, but nothing serious. Therider appears to be much the same as the other Yagamuna warriorsexcept this one has a helmet on unlike most of the others.This is an excellent model and one sure to gain some attention(whether wanted or unwanted) on the gaming table.Reviews by Clay Richmond and Mark Theurer280409-0043 Haqqislam Kum Motorized Troops25.00 € (2 mounted figures plus counters)After dumping out and sorting the parts to the Kum MotorizedTroops I found that the bikes themselves are made up of threeidentical parts (frame, wheel and foot-rest assembly) plus a setof handlebars that either has one or two rider hands attached.The bikes mount onto a 40mm round base via a metal tab. Thewheel connects to the bike with a ball/socket joint and did notneed to be bored out at all as it fit just fine and left a bit of roomto rotate the wheel a bit if you like to simulate a turn. The malerider comes in three parts (legs, torso and gun) and once assembledhe’s sitting on the bike but facing backwards to shoot at anenemy. The female’s gun is holstered and she’s in a pose thatsimulates a rather quick stop as she’s thrust forward a bit out ofher seat and her ample bosom appears to be ready to fall out ofher jacket that’s been unzipped quite a bit. It must be really hotwherever they are fighting J She comes in two parts and eachrider had some bits of flash in various places, but both werereally well sculpted and have a lot of clean detail. All of theparts, bikes and riders, needed some cleaning, but mold lineswere either non-existent or very faint. I have to admit that thefirst thing that I thought of when it came to unicycles wereclowns in the circus, but I think that Corvus Belli pulled off aninteresting idea well with these. They definitely have the lookof a sleek motorbike. I like the pose of the male rider more thanthe female, but with some careful adjusting of the female’s legsyou could probably alter the pose if you wish.280503-0048 Nomad Hellcats (Combi-Rifle, ADHL)12. 00 € (2 figures)Oh, jetpack guys with big guns. Sign me up! I liked these guysright away just from seeing their picture on the card that comesin the blister. Each guy is made up of six parts (four of them aresmall fins and the other two are the body and gun) and there wasa decent bit of flash to be cleaned off of the body, but not muchanywhere else. The fins come on two metal sprues and need tobe carefully clipped off. Each guy (actually, one is a female) iswearing a tight-fitting armored suit and has a sleek rounded helmetlike the Rocketeer. A small turbine is strapped to their backand they appear to be in either a landing or taking off pose.Each of the guns fit easily into place as one arm/shoulder andthe other hand are sculpted right on to the gun so there’s reallynot much of a chance of you putting them together wrong.There’s also not much (unless you’re a green putty wiz) of alteringthe way that the gun is held, but I can live with that as theyare really cool just the way they are. If you’re not playing Infinityand still have a Warzone fix that needs to be attended tothese guys would make outstanding Martian Banshees in a Capitolarmy.280504-0049 Nomad Zond Remotes22.00 € (2 figures plus counters)I expect there to be lots of bits that go into making the remotesfor Infinity, but my initial thoughts about the Nomad remoteswas that they look and feel substantially bulkier then theHaqqislam remotes that I was able to review last issue. The31

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006ended up losing the small bit that came off. I was able to replaceit easily enough, but would have rather been careful in thefirst place and not had to do the repair. Mold lines were visiblein a few places but, in general, the cleaning and assembly waspretty easy and they are sitting on my table ready to get primedand painted (as soon as the humidity cooperates) for an Infinitybattle report in December.‘head’ I the largest single part of the model and the four legs aremade up of two sections that each have two legs on it. The legsend in wheels or rollers, which I’m sure aid in movement onstreets or other hard ground, but might be a hindrance in veryrough terrain. The legs fit onto the head/body very easily andgive you a bit of movement options. You could even carefullybend out the longer legs to simulate them going around an obstacle.The lines on the armor plating are straight and give a nicedefinition to the bulk of the model and should be easy to paintindividually if you want to make the plate stick out from theseams. There’s a variety of antennae that go on each model andthese were the parts that needed the most cleaning as some ofthem came out of the mold with a thin webbing of metal aroundthem. There three weapon options in the pack. The two thatyou see in the picture plus a third that looks like a heavy flamethrower.Assembly was not hard at all and even with the severalantennae there are not too many small fiddly bits to glue toyourself. Very cool looking robots that could also be useful in asci-fi or even superhero rpg.280111-0044 Ariadna Antipode Assault Pack25.00 € (4 figures plus counters)I’ve come to accept that I probably won’t be getting any remotesor big giant mecha-like guys for my Ariadna army, so what willthey give me? Ooh, these look like genetically engineeredwerewolf-ish monsters! Ok, I can live with that. This boxcomes with one ‘controller’ figure an parts for three wolf-guys.The controller is a female that carries a large smoke grenadelauncher and is looking down at some kind of electronic device.She’s wearing somewhat tight clothes and a shirt that shows offher belly. She’ll fit in nicely with the rest of my Ariadna figures.With the wolf-guys you get four pieces per model and cando a lot of mixing and matching to put together different poses.On one of mine I built up a small mound of dirt with green puttyand gently bent the legs to get him almost standing up and havehis nose in the air like he’s trying to pick up an enemy’s scent.Of course, I also ended up with one that looks like he’s taking apoop, so I guess your mileage will vary when swapping partsout and altering poses. When separating the weapons from theother metal bits that they are attached to you’ll want to be careful.I was a bit less than I should have been and ended up breakingoff part of the handle to one of the bladed weapons and280212-0045 Croc Man (Sniper)7, 00€ (1 figure)This Croc Man is a sniper for the PanOceania army in Infinity.If you don’t already know,Croc Men are pretty goodinfiltrators, so making themsnipers is kind of natural. Anyway, this guy comes in fivepieces and a round plasticslotta base. Two of the piecesare the antenna that attach tohis armor on the back. Anotheris his sniper riffle whichincludes his right arm and lefthand. His left arm, fromshoulder to wrist, is a separatelittle piece (which I had somelittle difficulty getting glue into place) and finally there is thetorso. The stance of this guy is very cool with his left foot veryfar forward putting most of his weight on his braced right legwhile he carefully takes aim down the barrel of his very longriffle. There were only a few errant pieces of metal on thesmaller pieces, and none on the body. The two antennas weremounted on a sprue that required some minimal cleanup.Though there are no real weak points on the model, the antennaby their nature could be a bit fragile, but if you’re collecting thePanOceania army, as I am, you know that this is only to be expectedas it seems much of the army wear these little electronicears. I couldn’t find any trace of a mold line, and balance forthe assembled model is perfect. I really like this model and I’mputting it next on my list to paint up and get him put in the ranksof my army.280312-0039 Gǔiláng (Ghost Wolves) (Combi Rifle)7, 00€ (1 figure)This model is part of the Yu Jing army in the game of Infinity,and this guy has something of a flair to him. He is holding hisCombi Rifle up in a safe position, as if he just successfully finishedoff the last of his opponents, while his long coat flaps inthe breeze revealing some of his more traditional military garbbeneath. The thing that makes this guy look like he just may besomeone you don’t want to mess with,is his headgear which completely covershis head and face, and the mask hasa bit of an alien look to it. The modelcomes in three pieces, the torso, theCombi Riffle, and the left arm (the rightarm is part of the Combi Riffle piece).A round plastic slotta base is also included.The joints are flat face to facetype joints so fitting the small piecestogether without getting your fingersnice and glued up may be a challenge.Flash and mold lines were very slight,32

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006so even though this guy has some really good detail on him,cleanup was quick and easy. This is a good looking model withnice clean distinct lines.280501-0047 Starter Pack Nomads30, 00€ (6 figures)Infinity has expanded yet again this time we have the Nomadsmaking their début with this Starter Pack. Included in the packare a total of six models. Four of them being single piece models,one of the being a two piece model, and the final one comesin three pieces. All six come with round plastic slotta bases.First in the line-up is a female “Alguacil” armed with a CombiRiffle. She is in a braced position taking careful aim down thebarrel of her weapon at a target to her side while her hair flaresbehind her. The next two figures are also Combi Rifle carryingAlguacil, but these two are males. They are in similar poses,evidently in the process of advancing on an enemy position. Allthree of the Alguacil are single piece models. Next we have a“Securitate” model armed again with a Combi-Rifle. She lookslike a fashion model in a soldier’s uniform and she too is a singlepiece model. By her stance she just might think she is on astage rather than on the battle field. She has a metal tab supportingher left hand, so that needs to be trimmed of and cleaned up.The next model is the three piece model of a “Mobile Brigada”armed with a multi rifle. This is a heavily armored lady thatlooks like she could take a few punches. Her right arm is carryingthe weapon and comes as a detached piece. Her left armsupports the weapon in her right arm, and this also comes detached.The rest of the model comes as the third piece. Thefinal model in the set is a “Zero” armed with a Combi rifle. Thepieces for this model break down into the torso, and the rightarm/weapon combo. This figure is probably my favorite in theset, and he definitely has the look of a behind the lines type infiltrator.All the model in the set have great detail and are relativelyfree of flash and mold lines with a few metal spurs hereand there being the only real things you have to clean up. Thisis a good set and has a good variety if you plan on starting aNomad army.280502-0040 Interventor (Hacker)7, 00€ (1 figure)This little lady is part of the Nomads, arelatively new army for the game ofInfinity. She comes in four pieces, notcounting the round plastic slotta baseor plastic sheet of possible cutouts thatyou can add to simulate her holographicheads-up computer screens.The four pieces include two arms, ariffle (a piece that is optional), and themain torso. The two arms are attachedto a common sprue, and the cleanup33

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006here was actually a fair piece of work between the sprue andsome significant flash. It doesn’t help that the arms are rathersmall and not real easy to hold onto, but once finished, they attachto the torso in nice ball in socket joints with plenty of contact.The gun and torso are much better with only a few excessmetal spurs and some minor mold lines to clean off. With herstance, and flailing long hair, I personally think she would lookbest if you didn’t bother to use the supplied riffle; it just looks abit crowded with it strapped to her side or back, but to each theirown. Either way, the model is well balanced and there are noreal problem areas on it. The detail is also nice and the long,thigh length hair is uniquely done and is probably my favoritepart of the model.280313-0046 Ko Dali7, 00€ (1 figure)I’m (Brian) back reviewinganother Yu Jing model. Yourpublisher asked me to look atthis model because CorvusBelli produced it and I ownquite a few of Corvus Belli’s15mm historical figures. Imust say that I find no differencein quality between their 15mm and 28mm lines. This figuremeasures up to what I have come to expect in terms of CB’sproduction value. Ko Dali is a combat figure for the Yu Jingfaction of the Infinity 28mm miniatures game. Bottom line: thisis a very nice figure. I found no mold lines. I’m a big fan of nomold lines because I tend to butcher figures when having to delicatefile work on them. What little flash that I found was easilyremoved with clippers and a small file (I didn’t butcher thisone). This process too all of about two minutes. The model ismolded in two pieces: a torso and a right arm (with rifle). Thearm and joint fit together quite cleanly. I had to do no work toget a good fit when attaching the arm to the torso.Ko Dali is very well sculpted. There is plenty of detail, but notso much as to make an amateur painter nervous. Like Zhanshi,which I reviewed last time, this model is VERY female. She fitsin quite well with the genre and the rest of the Yu Jing figures.Ko Dali looks MEAN. She is armed with an impressive swordand assault rifle. The face looks decidedly female, as does herwell-proportioned body. Ko Dali’s pose is very action oriented.She appears to be in the midst of a sprint or about to leap intothe air. I really could not find any major drawback to this figure.I’m looking forward to putting some paint on it. Ko Dalialso has potential to work in any kind of game that is postmodernand/or militaristic in nature. So, if you like armed, scifi,female figures then this one is just for you.300229-0050 Feng Xi JiangSculpted by Carlos Torres5, 50€ (1 figure)This kingly looking model is a two piece solid cast model completewith a square plastic slotta base. I say kingly because ofhis amazing oriental style armor that he wears which would putany samurai warrior instantly to shame. His left arm is thepart that comes detached, and it glues on at the shoulder witha flat face joint. The arm is a small piece and is not holdinganything, so the joint should be sufficient. The model as awhole was free of flash and mold lines and the only cleanupneeded at all was to remove a couplemetal spurs. This guy has avariety of steamers, and like I mentioned,some very ornate armor, sohe might be worth putting a littleextra effort into when you arepainting him. All the detail on thefigure is sharp and distinct and Ihave to say that the detail on themodel makes it one of the moreimpressive models I’ve seen thisissue.300502-0049 NekoSculpted by Carlos Torres5, 50€ (1 figure)Neko is not your everydayfigure. First his one leggedstance looks like a fancytraining exercise that mostmen might find difficult toimitate. Second, his floppystraw hat is not the usualheadgear of choice for aninja master. The third andfinal thing that comes tomind is that this particularlittle ninja is a goblin. The model comes in three pieces andcomes with a square plastic slotta base. Two of the pieces arethe arms, one of which holds a quarter staff. Both arms attach tothe main torso in ball in socket joints. As far as flash and moldslines go, all the pieces have very little, so the clean up is fast andeasy. For having only one foot on the ground, the model surprisinglyhas no weak points nor does it have any balance issues.Much of the model is covered with clothing and robes, but hisface has some excellent detail in it, and has to be my favoritepart of the model. One item of note, the picture on the blister, aswell as the picture on the web site, shows Neko standing on arock that protrudes out of the ground, but in fact that is not includedin the model; instead he is standing on flat ground.Reviews by Mark Theurer, Clay Richmondand Brian AhrensABG3008 APAC TADS 1ABG3009 APAC TADS 2$14.99 each (1 figure per code)Both sculpted by James Van SchaikEach of these blisters contains a cyborg trooper for the APACfaction in Rezolution. Each blister comes with the troop cardthat you would expect and a large (40mm) round plastic base. Idumped the contents of each blister out on my work table and34


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006was somewhat astonishedat the number ofparts that were there.On further examination Ifound that not all ofthem go into the assemblyof a single TADSand you are given quitea few assembly options.The main part of eachfigure is the body. Onthe female version oneleg is a separate pieceand the head and arms/hands are individualparts on both models.If you remember theFem-Bots from AustinPowers you’ll know that they had machine guns coming out oftheir “jumblies”. Well, the female version looks a tiny bit likeshe does too and it made me chuckle.ABG2008 CSO Peace Keeper Box Set$25.99 (6 figures)Sculpted by James Van SchaikBoth figures did have avisible mild line thatneeded to be carefullyremoved. It was moreprominent on the male,but the female did have asmall two small bits ofmetal webbing betweenher arms and torso. Bothfigures are very usableoutside of Rezolution ifyou are running a modernor near-future roleplayinggame.Both bodies also have a “fin” that attaches on the back of themodel to assist with their limited flight/jump ability. The turbineson their back are quite cool looking and I like the overalllook of the models very much.All of the parts had aslightly visible mold lineand there were some bits offlash here and there thatneeded to be cleaned, butthere were no defects. Despitethe relatively largenumber of potential partsthat can be used to assemblethe TADS they were nothard to put together andlook very sleek and stylishonce completed. I likethem very much and they’dmake very good robot warriorsoutside of Rezolutionif you have a use for them.My only beef is that I didn’thave them in time to useagainst Clay’s Dravani inlast issue’s battle report.ABG4004 Dravani Executor Vassals$8.99 (2 figures)Sculpted by James Van SchaikEach of these figures comes as single-piece models and depictsa human-ish trooper from the Dravani faction. Both are wearingtight fitting bodysuits, but the male has a long flowing overcoatthat’s swooshing around that gives him much more of an appearanceof movement than the female who is a bit static. Themale also reminds me, at least a little bit, of the movie Equilibrium.The female doesn’t have any visible cyber-wear, but doeshave a pair of sporty sunglasses. The male has a bald head thatis accented with some kind of microchip thing on the left side.In this box set you get enough bits and pieces to make six newCSO Peace Keepers. These are an update of the previous versionsthat were/are available and are all multi-piece models thatyou’ll need to do some prep and assembly work to before theyare ready to be primed.The bulk of each figure is the body, which consists of the upperand lower torso and legs. There are five different body poseswith one crouching, one running and the other four standing.The heads are separate pieces and you get three different headsin the group of six. All are wearing helmets that have an attachedbreathing apparatus. Two come with closed visors, twowith open visors where the face of the trooper is visible and twowith an open visor, but the trooper has a targeting device overone eye and an antenna on the helmet. Nice bit of variety herewhen they could have just tossed in six identical helmets. Thearms come on six metal sprues and five come with a righthandedheld gun and a left hand to either cradle it or to be posedon its own. The sixth sprue has a left-handed held gun and tworight arms sculpted at different angles. The arms join up to thebodies with a flat-on-flat joint and allow for a lot of flexibilityon your part to determine which arms go on which guys and alsogive some extra range of motion for how they are posed.There was more cleaning to be done on the guns than anythingelse and this was mostly bits of flash, but there were some moldslines here and there. You’ll want to carefully cut away the armsfrom the tab and not just twist or pry them off. If you rushthrough this part you could damage the shoulder pads a little andwhile it could create some battle damage I’d rather have themcome off cleanly and just took an extra second or two per arm to36

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006clip them off and then clean them up before assembly.They have a very hard sci-fi look to them and I like them a lot.They could easily be dropped into a Traveller20 rpg or even beused as very cool looking Imperial Guard in 40K. They alsolook like they would be much more effective than today’s UNPeacekeepers. Yes, very much a winner here!ABG4012 Dravani The Damned Leader Pack$8.99 (3 figures)Sculpted by Steve Saundersmodel would have to be the joints on the three piece model. Thesmall flat surface area, that is provided to mount the arms on,makes me a bit uncomfortable seeing the length of the arms, so asmall pin might be in order. Besides that, these are a couplemore good models to add to the not so PC forces of the Dravani.This blister comes with three individual models, all in differentposes. In fact, being who they are, these models not only comein different poses, but they also come with different missingbody parts. All three models are single piece solid cast modelsand all come with a round plastic slotta base. Included in theblister is the data card for “The Damned”. The Damned arefolks that have been mutilated and tortured and then surgicallyenhanced into monstrous parodies of what they once were sothat they joyfully throw themselves into harms way. These particularDamned are no exception. One is a female whose legshave been removed below the knee. Another is a guy whose leftarm is missing and has something mechanical embedded in hisshoulder instead. The third is the most normal looking one becausethe only thing he seems to be missing is one hand … oh,and his face. All three have very nicely done detail and only afew spurs of metal to clean off. Mold lines were just about imperceptible,so cleanup on these models is fast and easy. Thesemodels do a pretty good job of giving you a graphical picture ofthe handiwork that the Dravani are capable of, and will definitelybe models that should be more than a little interesting topaint up (you could have a lot of fun with these).ABG4008 Dravani Baggers$9.99 (2 figures)Sculpted by James Van SchaikThe Dravani Baggers, I discovered when doing the Rezolutionbattle report, are some very effective troops. Of course they areugly as all get out, but I guess that is part of their effectiveness.This blister comes with two models in different poses, but thereare actually four different poses available. Of the two models inthis particular blister, one was a single piece model and the otherwas a three piece model. Both also came with the standardround plastic slotta bases. The three piece model came with itsarms detached, and they mount on the shoulders with flat face toface joints. Both models have good detail and have very littleflash and spurious metal that will need to be cleaned off. Theexception would be the tab that the two arms come attached tofor the three piece model. The only real strength issue for eitherABG6009 Merc: The Ferryman$7.99 (1 figure)Sculpted by James Van SchaikThe Ferryman is a “Merc” unitand though he is armed with verymodern, and very deadly, weapons,he looks like he camestraight from the Scottish highlandswithout passing “Go”. Themodel is a two pieces model(upper and lower torso) andcomes with a round plastic slottabase and a data card. Unlike most of the other Rezolution modelsI’ve see, this one could actually be used without the slottabase as it has an integrated base, and it’s a base that could allowthe model to stand on its own (though its narrow enough thatthere may be a balance problem. The two pieces join at the figure’swaist, with a flat face to face joint that has enough surfacearea to make it a good solid joint. The upper torso piece has acouple of fair sized tabs that you will have to clip off and theflash and mold lines will also cause you a minute or two ofcleanup. The bottom part of the torso is a whole lot easier andtook me all of two seconds to clean up as there were no moldlines, flash or tabs. The outfit the guy is wearing appears to bea traditional kilt which looks kind of unique when taken with hissawed off shotgun and machine pistol the dude is toting. I haveto say that I like this model a lot, and it’s a bit outside the lookof you normal Rezolution model.Reviews by Mark Theurer and Clay RichmondHFA017 Billie (Hunted) £3.00HFA018 Billie (Hunter) £3.00Both sculpted by Kev WhiteBoth of these miniatures are different versions of a little girlnamed Billie, who has more than a passing resemblance to Newtfrom the movie Aliens. Both are single piece models that comewith a small round base.37

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006The ‘hunted’ version had a few bitsof flash and a visible mold line thatran the length of the model on theright side but was not too heavy. Itwas removed easily. She is dressedin torn overalls, shoes and a longsleeve shirt and has a scared or timidlook on her face. Her arms arecrossed and she clutches a small dollin her left hand. She would make avery good citizen/victim in a modernhorror rpg or miniatures game andwould also serve well as one of thecharacters in a board game like Betrayal at House on the Hill.The ‘hunter’version isquite differentand followshermovie transformationfrom scaredlittle girlwho somehowhasmanaged tosurvive thealien infestation to a bug hunter. Ok, so Newt didn’t really goshooting up any bugs in the movie and they totally screwed thecharacter over in Alien 3 , but that’s a whole other discussion.She is wearing the same clothes as before but is now armed witha pulse rifle and has a military helmet on. Sure, both are too bigfor her and this is accurately depicted on the model. If you canremember Newt saluting and saying, “Affirmative!” in themovie Aliens then I think that you’ll agree that the miniature isdead-on, at least in concept. I’m thinking of dropping the‘hunter’ version into a unit of CSO Peace Keepers or Troopersin Rezolution just for grins.HFP005 Buckle £3.00Sculpted by Alex M.Oh, what a little bundle of green attitude we have here! Bucklecomes with a separate sword that could either be glued to hisbelt or just laid down on the ground in front of him. This couldlook quite proper as he has his arms crossed and his nose turnedup like a petulant child. He’s wearing a large-brimmed pirateyhad and puffy pantaloons that look like they will be fun to paintin wild colors. I suppose he has shoes on to keep from gettingsplinters from the ship’s deck.The mold line was visible on thefigure, but it was not thick orheavy. There were a couple ofbits of flash that needed cleaningalso. His upper torso ismuscular (well, as muscular as agoblin can be) and well defined,but the folded arms and look onhis face are just priceless.I plan on adding him to mygroup of Gobbo Mekanics formy Cygnar army in Warmachine. His build is a bit more slightthan theirs and I might have to swap out his sword for a bigwrench or some other kind of tool, but I think he’ll fit in well.His look, to me anyway, is that of a spoiled worker that’d decidedto go on strike. Right up until he catches a boot in thebutt, that is. Of course, he would also do very well as a pirate,his originally intended purpose, in any fantasy game. Just as Iplan to drop him into Warmachine you could also add a bit ofvariety to a group of goblin pirates in Confrontation.HFK003 – HFK007Kindred Troopers £2.50 eachSculpted by Kev WhiteExpanding on the twoKindred that Hasslefreeinitially releasedwe now have enoughof the little buggers tomake up a wholesquad. Privates H.Yew, P. Yew, B.McGrew, C. Dribbleand A. Grubb are eachsold separately and aresingle piece figuresthat come with a smallround base. All fivewear the same gearand armor and fit inwith each other perfectly.All five arealso in unique poseswith one firing hisweapon, one marchingand three at the ready.Like their superiorsthese guys are allbare-foot. They areall carrying a backpack,canteen, a knifeand multiple pouches.Detail is excellent allaround and you couldprobably paint theseup very quickly, andto a decent standard,with just a few colorsand a quick ink wash.Each had a bit offlash, but for the mostpart the mold lineswere either nonexistentor very faint.Ok, so what are yougoing to use them for?They are not exactlysci-fi in look, at leastnot in the same waythat the Grymn are,but I think they couldbe used in that type of38


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006setting without too much trouble. In the same way that somepeople use the Grymn in place of Imperial Guard in 40K youcould also build some units out of these guys. I’d like to build aCSO army for Rezolution using Grymn as Peace Keepers andKindred as CSO Troopers. I think it’ll work just fine and bepretty unique.HFP006Patrice £3.00Sculpted by Patrick KeithPatrice may be one of themore interesting pirate modelsyou are likely to come across.She is a one piece model andcomes with a round plasticslotta base. As is normal withHasslefree, this is a very welldone sculpt with plenty of sharp detail. Patrice is a good lookinggal, and does not appear to be very shy as she coyly sightsdown the end of the pistol with her upraised cutlass raised behindher. The model is balanced well and if there is weak pointin the model it would have to be where the blade of the swordmeets the hilt. The metal here is thin enough that if you playwith it too much you’ll be trying to glue it back together as itdoesn’t take much of a touch to bend the sword at that point.There were very few, and very faint molds lines to worry aboutand the only excess metal to be found were a few flimsy spurs.This is a cool looking model and just might make you want to bea pirate yourself.Reviews by Mark Theurer and Clay RichmondHH010 Super Dynamic Boris £4.00Sculpted by Andy FosterBoris is one of the staples of Heresy Miniatures and comes invarious poses and incarnations in their line of figures. Here he isin a very action-oriented pose with his axeabout to be swung in a stroke worthy of TigerWoods or Wayne Gretzky. The figure comeswith a plastic slotta-base and lots of bits. Thebulk of the model is the chest, waist and rightleg and all other parts glue on to this base. Theleft leg (cuiriously I got two identical ones inthe pack) fits tot he body on a flat-on-flat joint.The seam was visible, but not hard to smoothover with a sharp knife and a tiny amount ofputty. There are two heads to choose from, onehelmeted and the other bare but both clearlyBoris. The arms and hands are each sepearte pieces and eachhad a faint, but visible mold line that needed to be cleaned. Youalso get your choice of sword of axe when choosing weapons.With a pose like this you can, and should, expect a moderateamount of work to go into assembly of the model. I expectedthis going in adn it was a bit more work than a figure that comesout of the pack ready to go it was not much more than whatyou'd do when assembling a multi-part plastic figure. Boris is abig, very muscled, barbarin and this pose has a great sense ofmovement to it. He'd make a great dungeon-crawling playercharactermodel or could also fit into a unit of barbarians in atabletop game.HM003 Ogre with Table £9.00Sculpted by Andy FosterEleven pieces comes in theblister for the ogre withouta name that's about tosmash some poor fool witha table. Somehow I doubtthat the quartermaster issuedhim a table to fightwith :)Three of the eleven piecesare unnecessary as you getfour heads to pick fromwhen assembling themodel. One has big tusksand an eye patch, one hastusks and a mohawk, anotherhas just tusks and thefourth has large flat teethwith a big gap betweenthem. I'm not sure what todo with the three heads thatI don't use, but I'm surethey'll crop up somewhereon a piece of scenery orsomething. The bulk of themodel is the large body thatfits on a round plastic base.Mold lines were less visible here than on Boris and assemblydidn't take too long. Unlike Boris' leg, there were no parts to theogre that needed to be supplemented with any putty. Cleaningand assembly of the table came first. Five easy pieces go into itand it's very easy to just look at the picture of the finished modelto see how it goes together. I then glued the arms to the bodyand then the table, which has the hands molded as part of thetable, on to the arms.& nbsp; Sure, he's a bit top-heavy but he'scarrying a freakin' dinner table for goodness sake!I've got a handful of other Heresy models athome (a few different of Boris, a minotaur anda troll) but I have to say that this one is probablymy favorite just from the look of it and thestory that you can put behind it. An ogre smashingsomeone with a table, it's a natural! I canalready see him in a bar-fight in the lower sectionof Cadwallon.Reviews by Mark Theurer40

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 20063071 Hellakin Goregutter, Halfling Thief $3.99Sculpted by Werner KlockeBy his name hesounds more like avicious assassin insteadof a commonsneakthief, but eitherway this is a greatmodel. His right armcomes as a separatepiece that is attachedto the base of themodel. Be carefulwhen removing thearm/dagger or you’llsnap it off betweenthe hand and the handlelike I did and need to do some emergency repair work.There was a visible mold line down each side of the model andsome of the lines are in folds of the model so you’ll need to takean extra minute to clean them off properly. The arm connects tothe body just fine and I really like the windswept look of themodel. His cloak and hair are both being blown forward in thedirection he is looking. Wearing mostly cloth and leather, he iswell detailed and after first thinking that the face/hair was thefocal point of the model I changed my mind after really lookingat it for a few minutes and decided that the feet stood out morethan the head. They are bare, as you’d expect for a Halfling, butthey are noticeably large. Maybe I missed this with otherHalfling figs, which I have many different varieties of, but thesewere just “boom, here’s my big feet!” Speaking of the feet,they are also very well done, right down to their toenails. Anexcellent model.3072 Aviriel Tellerion, Female Elf Paladin $3.99Sculpted by Werner KlockeI believe this is thefirst female elf paladinfigure that I haveever run across.Since female paladinsare rare, and elfpaladins are evenrarer, this noble ladyprobably has a hardtime finding a stuntdouble. The modelis a two-piece modelalthough they comeconnected. The leftarm, with its attachedshield, is connectedto the base by a metal support that needs to be cut away andcleaned off. The shield arm attaches to the main piece at theupper arm with a flat face to face joint that has enough surfacearea touching to make for a good solid joint. I definitely like thedetail on the model as its very “elvish” in nature, and the doublewinged shield is really a nice touch. There are no real weakpoints on the model, although the longsword she is holding iseasily bent and will probably have to be straightened when itcomes out of the blister. After cleaning off the metal stud holdingthe shield, the only other required clean up needed was acouple of metal spurs at the mold injection points which took allof two seconds. I really like this model and have to say that ifyour looking for a female elf paladin, not only does this modelfit the bill in spades, but I also doubt you will have much luckanywhere else.3073 Sarah the Seeress $3.99Sculpted by Gene Van HorneThis figure is a singlepiece solid cast modelcomplete with an integratedmetal base. Ithink this model is agood model for a roleplaying game because itdepicts a young ladyoutfitted with a numberof pouches and dressedas if she is traveling.Not only that, but sheseems to be in the processof casting some sortof spell while advancing.Now if that isn’tthe normal mode for magic using characters in an RPG gamethen I don’t know what is. The piece is well balanced, and it’sone of the cleanest “ready to paint” pieces I’ve seen in a while.There were no mold lines or any flash present at all. Thereweren’t even any of those flimsy spurs that you commonly findon pieces such as this. The detail on it is also well done withexcellent facial features and a hand that is obviously in the processof weaving a hex of some sort. All in all, this is a great littlemodel for a character.3074 Engel, Adventuring Crossbowman $3.99Sculpted by Jim JohnsonI’ve been bitten by the Cadwallon bug (not that I’ve gotten toplay yet as I’m still plowingthrough the Player’s Handbook)so I’m definitely on the lookoutfor figs that can be used for militiatypes as early challenges forwhatever fledgling group of PC’swe put together. Engel looks likehe’ll fit that bill pretty easily.He’s a one-piece model holding acrossbow up in a firing position.The stock of the crossbow istucked between his right arm andbody, against his shoulder, so ifyou’re looking at the model fromthe front or the left side it might41


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006look like he’s holding a smaller weapon, but it’s just that he hasit stabilized for firing. He’s wearing mostly leathers with someflexible metal shoulder pads and a metal helmet. A sword, aquiver of bolts and a backpack round out his gear. I may bebiased right now because of my reading of a new rule set, but Ithink he fits into my collection much more as a militiamanrather than a true adventurer. There were some tiny bits of flashbut the mold line was only really visible around his skirt. Theonly think I didn’t like, and I know it’s part of the molding processso it’s just something to deal with, is the sword being connectedto the base by his left foot. Some careful clipping willremove the extra metal. Painted up to match other Cadwallonmilitia I think that he’ll fit in just fine.3075 Sorceress on Flying Carpet $8.99Sculpted by B. JacksonSorceress on Flying Carpetis a new, 28mm figurefrom Reaper Miniature’sDark Heaven Legendsline. The carpet isthe most impressive partof this three-piece figure.The design work on it isvery impressive. Thepattern has a distinctPersian/Middle Easternflavor to it. There isfrillwork around theedges of the carpet andtassels at each corner.Extra time should betaken when painting thisitem so as to do it justice. An approximately 26mm stand fitsinto a socket on the underside of the carpet. This joint fits togethersnugly without the need to take a modeling knife to either.The sorceress has a distinct “I Dream of Jeannie” flare toher. She sits cross-legged upon the carpet with wide, loose fittingpants. Her midriff is bare. She wears a halter over whichshe has a short, open vest. A turban with loose cloth hangingdown covers her head a bit past her shoulders in the back. Thesorceress’ left hand rests upon her hip while her right hand israised and holds a wand. All in all she makes an elegant imageupon her mode of conveyance. This model is probably somewhatspecialized in that it has a definite geographical appearance.But, it is a beautiful figure and well worth the price ofacquiring.3077 Goblin Warband II $9.99Sculpted by Ben Seins$ 9.99Here is a good package deal for anyone building up a force ofgoblins. Not only are there four models in this blister, but thereare three different types of armaments found in here too, all thenormal ones that you would find on classical goblins. All fourmodels are single piece solid cast models and come on an attachedmetal base. Not counting their various weapons, they allstand a little over three-quarters of an inch tall. Two of themodels are armed with mace and shield, one with a spear andshield, and the fourth with short bow. I’ve seen a lot of goblinmodels over the years, and to date, these would have to be someof my favorite. They are nicely detailed, and definitely fit thebill for what I personally thing goblins ought to look like withtheir barbaric leather armor and angry bestial faces. A couple ofthe models are on bases that are narrow enough to make them alittle too easy to knock over, but none of the models have anyweak point in them though I did have to straighten out the spear.Mold lines vary a bit from model to model and range from noneto mild. The only other cleanup work needed on them was toremove the slivers of metal left over from the injection process.All in all, these are very clean models with very distinct andclear detail. This is a good bargain.3078 Pearl, Mermaid $4.99Sculpted by Werner KlockePearl is one of the better mermaid modelsI have ever seen. That’s not to saythat you run across mermaid modelseveryday. This model comes in a totalof four pieces, the main torso being theprimary piece. The other three pieces,two fins and a forearm with hand, allcome attached to a sprue. The fins onthis little lady are really a nice touch andare one of the things that in my mindmake her stand out. She has two set ofpelvic fins and one of each set comesalready attached, so there is no confusion when deciding whereto glue on the others. The figure has an integrated metal base,but the small size of it gives the model a bit of a balance issue,so I personally recommend mounting her on a secondary base.There are only a couple minor mold lines on her, and only aspec of flash so the only real work involved in prepping her wastaking the pieces off the sprue and cleaning them up. I think thisis a cool model for collectors in general as well as anyone planningan hosting an underwater adventure and/or encounter.3079 Nyree, Female Pit Fighter $3.99Sculpted by J. JohnsonNyree is a female that's been tossed into the fighting pits and hasalready lost her right eye,which bears a patch. She'sarmored with some metal(shoulders, legs and onebreast) and fur. The moldline was visible and neededcleaning almost all the wayaround the figure. She carriesan axe in her right hand and asevered head in the left. Thepose seems a bit static to me,but maybe it's at the end of asuccessful fight and there's noreason to be all up in yourface and wildly swinging43

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006around axes and severed heads. Both arms could be carefullyre-posed if you wanted to. She could pretty easily be holdingthe head up for viewing rather than in its original position,straight down. The axe could also be pushed up to a more menacingposition. I think the figure would benefit a lot from somethinglike this. She could work as a barbarian fighter or betossed into a more historical gladiator game.3080 Anwyn, Female Bard $3.99Sculpted by W. KlockeAnwyn is a new 28mm figure from ReaperMiniature’s Dark Heaven Legends line.This is a simple, yet elegant figure. Herinstrument of choice is the flute, which sheis in the act of playing. Anwyn stands uprightin a relaxed pose while she enjoys hermusic. She is wearing leather armor withknee-high boots. Anwyn has a pouch ather right him and a short sword strapped toher left leg for easy access. Her midriff isbare while her upper torso is covered inmore leather. Anwyn’s shoulders appearto have a “poofy” accouterment that seemsa bit reminiscent of renaissance attire. I really liked her hair. Itis parted down the middle and tied in a ponytail on each side ofher head. This gives her a somewhat youthful aura. Anwyntravels light, as she has neither bag nor backpack. Anwyn is avery clean model. I found no flash or mold lines. So, if you arein need of a model of a female musician then this girl is for you.3081 Edo, Male Ninja $3.99Sculpted by Bobby JacksonEdo in some ways isyour basic run of themill Ninja, in otherways, he is most definitelynot. The moststriking thing about himis that he carries the singlelargest two-handedkatana that I have everseen. In fact it measuresto be longer than he istall. The model is a singlepiece solid castmodel and it has an integrated metal base. Besides the katana,another cool thing that separates this guy from the other ninja isthat there is a skull emblem embossed on the back of his uniform,and a few more on his uniform at the knees and forehead.His Tabi boots are also a bit more ornate than usual for a ninja,so he is obviously a ninja of some note. The mold lines on himare slight and easy to remove, and flash was not an issue at all.There were several excess metal streamers hanging off him butthere were not significant enough to cause problems. Thekatana is long enough, and slim enough, to get bent in shipping,so you may have to straighten that out when it comes out of theblister. That being said, there are no balance or weight issueswith the model. Off hand, I think that this guy would make agood leader of a ninja death squad.3082 Ingrid, Female Gnome $3.99Sculpted by Derek SchubertIngrid is a sinlge piece miniature of a gnome that could be ofalmost any class. Well, maybe not a monk, bard or druid butabout anything else. I say that because she is wearing leatherand chain armor and a cape and holds in her hands a sword (adagger to anyone of normal size) and some kind of gem. Shecould easily represent a rogue that just took some pricey gem, afighter/mage and in that case it's some item of power, or even aranger and it's a rock that she's going to chuck at someone. It's avery versatile figure! There was a tiny bit of flash to be cleanedand the mold linewas tricky in some ofthe smaller areas butit came clean anyway.The face isquite well done andthe details on thearmor are all cleanand should be easy topick out when painting.All told, Ingridis a very cleanlysculpted little spellcasterthat wouldmake a fine charactermodel.3083 Requius, Death Warden $9.99Sculpted by Bobby JacksonThis large brute comes in three pieces, but the blister actuallyhas two more parts that allow for additional head options.There’s a total of three different heads on a metal tab. The firstis wearing a rounded metal helm, the second a metal helm that’staller and more ornate, while the third is bare with sunken featuresand what looks like a nice big open sore on the top of hishead. I’m leaning towards the second one for my assembly andgoing with a dark black/grey motif for the armor and a darkbloody red for the cloth areas. I’ll try to pull off a very paleflesh color to contrast with the overall dark colors of the rest ofthe figure. The body is massive and it could be argued by somethat it’s too big and disproportionate, but I like it because it’sthat massive and just oozes power and fortitude in my mind.He’s coming to lay waste and nothing will stand in his way.That’s the impression I get from the figure. His weapon is atwo-handed affair with a big chopping blade on one end and asmaller curved blade on the other. Assembly was very easy asthe head fit into a little notch inside the collar of his armor andthe wrists fir onto the arm stump via a male/female joint. Thearmor is massive largeplate with rivets andbuckles all over it.Decorative skeletonshave been sculpted invarious places andshould be easy to pickout when painting. Thecloak looks more raggedthan the armor and hasseen much more wearduring the course of hisbattles. It’s very well44

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006detailed and would make a great bodyguard for an evil mage orjust a regular boss monster at the end of a dungeon level.3084 Virina, Female Demon $5.99Sculpted by Werner KlockeYes, Virina is definitely female,and yes, she is definitely a demon.I’ll even bet that you’ll be able tofigure it out too. She comes infour pieces, two of them being hersmall but demonic looking wings,another is her right arm and hand,and the last of course being therest of her. The wings and detachedarm come mounted on aseparate sprue that will need to becut away. The “rest of her” ismounted on a metal base that isslightly textured and fairly small.Once assembled she is a bit topheavy (I’m talking about the castinghere) so gluing her down to a secondary base might be agood idea. The wing fit on her back into some good slots so thejoints appear to have enough metal to metal contact to make fora good joint. The arm joint is not as nice, being a flat surface tosurface mount, but since it’s not holding anything, and the armis down by the side, it’s probably sufficient. There were no perceptiblemold lines and only a few spurs of excess metal, soafter the sprue is removed, there is not much work that needs tobe done in order to get her ready to paint. The detail on her faceand body are enough to make her demonic and yet the woman ofyour dreams… in other words it is very well done. This is a verynice model and I can’t help to think about the kind of challengethat it will take to paint this one up nicely.3085 Labith, Female Spider Centaur $15.99Sculpted by Julie GuthrieThis is a great monster model and has got to be my favoritemodel for this issue. She comes in a total of 10 pieces and doesnot come with a base. Eight of the pieces are her individuallegs, then there is her front torso, which includes the human partof her, and the final and largest piece is the rear torso. Four setsof identical legs come on small sprues with two legs to each.The two legs on the sprue are different,so you end up with four legs ofeach type. All eight fits into fairlydeep sockets (six on the rear torsopiece, and two on the front torsopiece) so the joints are good andsolid. The two torso pieces fit togetherwith another very good post inpit joint so it too is made to stay together.Then, I was actually verysurprised by the lack of mold lines,and flash on a model of this type andsize. For that matter, after cleaningthe sprues off the legs, there washardly any other work required, besidesgluing her all together ofcourse, to get the model ready forpainting. Once done, it is a very imposingmodel that is guaranteed tomake a character or two soil their briefs should they comearound a corner and find this pretty lady smiling at them. Theweb site calls this model a “Spider Centaur”, but the blister islabeled “Spider Demon”. I personally think that the descriptionon the blister is more accurate, especially if you have ever readany of the Drizzt Do'Urden novels.3086 The Shadow King $6.99Sculpted by Derek SchubertThis model is a two piece solidcast model with an integratedmetal base. It stands almost twoand a quarter inches tall, so althoughhe is not a giant in theclassical sense, he is definitely awhole lot taller than your averageJoe. When looking at this guy,the first thought that flashed in mymind was that he looked like thegod Apollo from the original StarTrek TV series. That is except forthe little horns coming through hishair and the monstrous demoniclooking sword this guy is leaningon. The sword, with the hand thatholds it, needs to be glued on, and fits nicely together with agood ball and socket joint. Since the tip of the sword rests onthe ground, there is no weak point at the joint even though it’s ahefty sized weapon. Normally, for a model only wearing a loincloth and a few other strips of cloth, there is not much to sayabout the detail included on the model. This one however isdifferent. The muscle tones and detail on this guy’s body arereally excellent and I think you would be hard pressed to find amodel of this type that is better. Granted that due to the size ofthe model, you can get a little bit more detailed, but still, it isreally a good sculpt, and even the base is nicely textured (as astone floor) so you really don’t need do any extra flocking thereif you don’t want too. This is a great model with little to nocleanup required.3087 Battle Troll $17.99Sculpted by Jason WiebeThis very large monster comes in just three pieces (right and leftarms and the rest of the body of thetroll). His left foot is raised high inthe air ready to stomp on someone, nodoubt. The body piece is somewhatflat on its own, but when you add thetwo arms/weapons the model takes upa much larger footprint and its widthand depth pretty much equal out. I’mstill going to mount mine on a largerplastic base (square or round are bothfine) to make sure that there are nostability issues to the right or left becausethe model still has a bunch ofweight higher rather than lower.The weapon arms carry either a largespiked club (right) or a heavily armoredgauntlet (left) that ends in along blade. Both arm joints needed a45

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006bit of trimming to getthe fit perfectly flush.The body didn’t reallyneed any cleaning at alland the only flash that Ineeded to trim was onthe bottom of the texturedbase, the top ofwhich is strewn withrocks and vines.The troll is a lanky,ugly, warty mess and Ido mean that in a positiveway! His armor ismostly made up of rags and his tough hide, but there’s also aturtle shell covering his left knee, nice touch. His foot raised inthe air was the first thing that caught my eye, but the head/facecan’t be missed either. It’s quite ferocious looking with spikes,teeth, a big tongue and a wild mane of hair. The other distinctivefeature of the model is the snack that he’s carrying around.It’s a fishnet full of the day’s catch. I’m a bit nervous abouttrying to paint the fish inside the net, but the lengths of rope thatmake up the net are probably big enough to allow the fish to bepainted well enough. Other than finding him down in a Cadwallonsewer he could also do double-duty in any tabletop army orrpg that you want/need to use a troll in. A very versatile figurewith a lot of, somewhat cartoony, personality. I like it a lot.3088 Bagheera, Demonic Ape $7.99Sculpted by Jason WiebeI have to admit that the firstthing I thought of with thismodel had nothing to dowith any kind of demonicape. The name, bagheera, isthe name of the panther inDisney’s movie JungleBook and that movie hasprobably been watched over100 times in my house.This bagheera, ape not panther,comes in three pieces(two wings and the rest ofthe figure) and assembly isvery easy. The wings glueright into place and cleaning was minimal with only a few faintmold lines showing. The wings are leathery looking on the insideand have fur on the other side. If you would rather have abog mad ape instead of a demonic one you could just fill in thevoids in his back with putty, scrape on some fur and you’d begood to go. I like the large elongated arms of the model and theface is well done with lots of teeth in his growling mouth. Thefur all matches well and from my experience with apes, which isgoing to the zoo with my kids, it looks very accurately sculpted.I think that the model would make an interesting, and unexpected,opponent in an urban D&D game and might be a nicetwist for your game.piece solid cast model that stands just overtwo and three-quarters inches tall. This particularmodel could be used in a historicalsetting as well as a fantasy setting since Horusreally was the ancient Egyptian god ofthe sky and this is as good a representationof him in his human form as any other. Ofcourse since this is a model of a statue, itwould probably be best used in a diorama orterrain piece. The model of course has nostrength or balance issues, heck, you coulddrop this onto concrete from several feet upand not significantly hurt it.. In fact, there isno real clean up work needed on the pieceeither, I mean it’s supposed to be a carvedpiece of stone right? The detail on the model is sharp and clearwith no “fill-in” metal used in the hard to get to areas so it’struly a good “360” model. I do have to say that I like this modelenough that it has got me thinking, and I just might have to get afew more of these to do it up right.3090 Ilkham the Bloody $4.99Sculpted by Werner KlockeIlkhan looks like he’sskidding to a haltafter running onedirection to redirecthis charge against anew target that’s justcome into view. Toobad for whomeverjust walked aroundthe corner and got hisattention. Either that or he’s having to twist his body around toaddress a new enemy after dispatching his first, sort of like a‘cleave’ maneuver in metal. Without a reason for the pose itlooks a bit unnatural, but I figure these two I came up with areas good as any. Ilkhan comes in three pieces with the right legand arm needing to be glued on to the body. The left armedsword was bent a bit in the blister and had to be carefully putback straight. He’s mostly bare except for some small armorplates and a horned helmet. His muscles are detailed but notoverblown. Cleaning was very quick on Ilkhan and the moldline was pretty much non-existent. He’d make a very good barbarianor gladiator type character model.3091 Logos, Savage Warrior $3.99Sculpted by Bobby JacksonLogos had a couple of bended spots when he came out of theblister. His sword and axe both had to be carefully bent backinto proper alignment. He is in a charging pose, coming towardsan enemy with both weapons at the ready and hsi bearded facelooks to be in mid-war cry. Mold lines were mostly visible onlyin his right arm and there really was no flash to speak of. Hewears either no armor or a patchwork of some chain and bits ofplate to go along with his horned helmet. The focal point of theminiature, for me, is the group of severed heads that hangs on3089 Horus, Egyptian Statue $7.99Sculpted by Bob OlleyThis is a decent sized chunk of metal. The figure is a single46

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006his belt. There's a fairly freshhuman head, one that's mostlyjust skull now and a wolf's head.Muscle detailing on Logos isclean and defined without beingoverblown. The pose is suitablyanimated and he would make agood fighter character or couldeasily be dropped into just aboutany barbarian army/unit for atabletop game.3097 Blacksilk, Male Thief $3.99Sculpted by Werner KlockeBlacksilk, and I reallylike that name, is a twopiece model that comeswith its textured metalbase as part of themodel. The right arm,along with the sword itwields, is the part thatcomes as a separatepiece and it is attachedto the base by a smallpost. The arm fits ontothe model at the shoulderin a nice solid ball insocket joint. His clothingis formed in such a way that it completely hides the jointtoo, so it’s solid as well as invisible. He is pretty much completelycovered by his clothing, and as you would expect ofsomeone of his profession, his clothing is not designed to drawattention, so there is not a whole lot of opportunity for detail onthis model. But what there is, it is well done. He is wearingleather armor, complete with gauntlets, and leggings, and ofcourse has the requisite large voluminous cloak. Even his faceis mostly covered with what I’m guessing, looking at his name,is probably a black silk scarf. The model stands on a narrowbase, but does not seem to be prone to being off balance. Flashand mold lines, if there were any, were well concealed, so theonly real cleanup was the metal post that the arm comes attachedto. This model will work well in a number of roles in any RPGgame.3100 Thanis the Bonecaller $5.99Sculpted by Bob RidolfiHere is a model that will take you a while to completely take in.The figure stands over two and a half inches tall and is a singlepiece solid cast model. The base, complete with several skeletonsrising out of the ground, is attached and is part of the casting.Thanis is evidently a necromancer of some sort, a powerfulone at that, and the skeletons beneath her seems to lifting her upand supporting her. Her lower legs are encased in what lookslike grieves made from ribs, and skulls adorn her knees. Herleggings are pretty cool, being made mostly of bones and thereare even some bones used in what little of a bra she has on. Atfirst look I thought the model might be top heavy, but in actualityit’s quite stable. And even withall the skeletons, still the onlyweak place seems to be the staffthat she is holding above her head,and this may only need a bit ofstraightening when you first get it.What little of mold lines I couldfind on her were slight at best, andthere was no flash at all, socleanup was fast and easy. Thismodel may be a bit rough to use ina RPG game (but hardly impossible)but I personally think this is agreat model to use in a diorama orspecial encounter.3101 Gronk Spliteyte, Bugbear Hero $6.99Scuplted by Ben SiensPulling Gronk out of the blister I noticed that he was bent in twoplaces where was not intended. I had to carefulyl correct theposition of his sword and mace and was able to do so withoutweakening or breaking them. Gronk has very little exposedflesh and wears lots of heavy plate armor which is detailed withrivets and buckles. His head is a mass of flowing and braidedhair and while his face, ears and teeth are visble it's his hair thatreally sticks out. His integrated base is detailed with rocks and asmall skull and also has a tree stump that his left foot rests on.Cleaning was made up of just a few visible mold lines. Sculpteddetails include bags and a skull around his waist and trinkets tiedinto his braidedbeard. Gronk fits invery well with therest of Reaper's Bugbearsand would dowonderfully as aleader of a unit oreven as a PC modelif you're allowingmonster-races in yourcampaign.14294 Nefsokar Weapons Pack $7.99Sculpted by VariousAs the title hints at, thisblister contains a bunchof the weapons that youmight find on the modelsof the Nefsokar armylist. There are foursprues of items, givingyou a total nineteen differentitems which includethree shields, ninemelee weapons, a bowwith a quiver, a helmet,and four ancient earthenjars. All the items definitelyhave the Nefsofarlook to them with all their wicked curves, and points and Egyptianflavor. All the items are pretty much clean of mold lines,flash, and other excess metal with only the occasional left overinjection debris in evidence. All these are good high quality47



Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006items usable as replacementitems,additional items, ormy personal favorite,terrain enhancementitems.14295 NecropolisWeapons (15 items)$7.99Sculpted by VariousThis blister contains fifteen items (2 shields, 1 helmet, 1 quiverand 11 weapons) that would be very at home in the Necropolisarmy from Warlord, but could also be used in other conversionwork that you might be doing. All needed a bit of mold linecleaning and had to be trimmed where they were removed fromthe metal sprue and there also were a few that were slightly bentin the package. They are all of good quality but they are reallysomething that you need to have a need for to pick up. Manyminis can be impulse buys (boy, do I know that) but these areprobably not that type of thing for most people. With a specificuse in mind you'll do very well with the assortment of items inthe pack though.14296 Warlord Familiars III (5 figures) and14297 Warlord Familiars IV (5 figures)$8.99 per packSculpted by VariousYour spellcasters in Warlord, or any other tabletop or rpg, haveten more little helpers to choose from. Each pack contains fivefigures that are all one-piece sculpts that come with an integratedbase. Some of them are small enough to fit on a standardbase along with the caster if you off-set each of them from thecenter. They could all also do just fine on their own or be glueddown to a plastic base to fit the look of the rest of your army.In the first pack you get a mini-skeleton that's holding a coupleof scrolls. He has a metal plate that's been riveted across hiseyes much like the band Megadeth's mascot, Vic. There's also amini-mummy that's carrying several scrolls and is riding on alarge beetle. A stitched together rag doll is rolling out anotherscroll for his master to read and there is also a small imp carryinga sword, presumably off to protect his master. The dollcould fit in very well with a group of Mid-Nor dwarves in Confrontationor Cadwallon. A flying serpent rounds out this packand it's probably the least animated of the group.The second group has no repeats in themes from the first set.There a small elemental that looks to be carrying an ornate jugof some type. At first glance I pegged it as a fire elemental, butit could be painted up in any of the four basic elements (earth,air, fire or water) and look just fine. A small female satyr carriesa scroll and is blowing a horn and a mini-beastman carries alarge runed bowl on his head that looks to be filled with red-hotcoals. The last two are almost mini-adventurers with the firstlooking like a small plate-armored fighter that is carrying a torchand bag and the last looking much like a small moustached goblinwearing glasses and carrying several sacks.All needed very littlecleaning and whileyou may not needtwo packs of famliarsI'm sure that you canfind something ineach pack that's usablein whatevergame you play.14298 - Soultender$5.99Sculpted by KevinWilliamsThe Soultender is a monster belonging to one of the relativelynew factions in Warlord called the Darkspawn. This ugly dudelooks to be one of their more unfriendly types standing almosttwo inches tall. The model comes in four pieces, has a largesquare plastic slotta base included, and comes with the Warlorddata card. The three pieces not attached to the main torso allcome mounted on a common sprue and include the head, the left…uh… appendage which is a nasty looking razor sword, and theright arm which is holding a huge battle axe that measures overtwo inches in length when you include its haft. All three piecesfit into small ball and socket type joints on the main torso, andsince this guy is actually pretty slender, the joints on the armpieces, which are at the elbows, are fairly small. I don’t thinkthis is an issue on the left arm, but the right arm. which is holdingthat extra long lever, might end up being a bit tender to thetouch. The haft of the great axe is also very slender and willprobably need to be straightened when it comes out of the blisterand may bend easy during use. Mold lines and excess metal ofany type (not counting the sprue) was slight and easy to remove.This thing, besides being useful in the Darkspawn army, obviouslyhas is uses as a antagonist in any RPG game.14299 Saramonde, Crusader Chronicler $4.49Sculpted by Gene Van HorneHere is another figure that the tittle on the blister is not exactlywhat it says on the web site. The web site calls this model a“Chronicler” were the blister calls her a “Hero”. Now youmight say that perhaps she is simply a hero chronicler (whateverthat might be), but the data card says she has abilities likeRogue, Spy, and Tactician, so I’m thinking she doesn’t soundmuch like any chronicler I’ve ever heard of. Anyway, she is a50

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006single piece model,and she comes with asquare plastic slottabase and a Warlorddata card. Her longsword points to theground and though itmay be bent easilyenough, I don’t thinkit will bend in normaluse nor did I have tostraighten it out ofthe blister. Shedoesn’t have anymold lines, and therewas only a singlemetal spur to remove, so the only real cleanup work is removinga support post that connects her slotta tab to the tips of her scabbardand sword, and this can be done quickly and easily. This isyet another model that althoughit’s made for Warlord,it’s an excellent choiceas a character model as well.14300 Crusader StandardBearer and Musician $9.99Sculpted by Bobby JacksonThis blister is well worth theprice tag on it. Inside younot only get the advertisedStandard bearer and musician,but you also get anextra standard, and an extracurved long horn. Seeingthat the two models you get more than cover the price you payfor the blister, I see the extra stuff as bonus gifts from ourfriends at Reaper. Both of the models are single piece modelsand they each also come with square plastic slotta base. As isnormal with the Warlord pieces that I’ve seen, the detail onthese models are really good. The horn that the musician isblowing is a pretty cool horn all by itself and if straightened outI believe it would measure over two inches (it’s kinda hard tomeasure in its current shape) and it has a couple of fancy tasselshanging from it for good measure. The Standard Bearer stands atotal of almost three inches tall, so he will really stand out on thebattlefield (just like a Standard Bearer is supposed to). It’sreally hard to detect any mold lines on either of the two models,and there are only one or two flimsy injection tabs to removeform either model. The same level of cleanliness is found on theextra pieces as well. As you might expect with the standardbearer, the shaft of the standard is slim and since it’s supportingthe heavy standard, it’s very likely that you will have tostraighten it on occasion. The good news is that the shaft isreally the only weak place of note. The garb and armor of thesetwo are right in line with the rest of the crusaders, so these willfit in perfectly with any squad and the army as a whole. Greatmodels and a great deal!14301 Standard & Musician, Merc $9.99Sculpted by Bobby JacksonStandard & Musician, Merc are two new, 28mm figures for theWarlord line of models releasedby Reaper Miniatures.These sculpts are nicelymolded as I could find nomold lines or flash on them.Both of these figures appealedto me in a way that took me abit of time to comprehend.Suddenly I realized that it wastheir versatility. I’ll get backto that quality in a few sentences.The Musician is platearmored,armed with an axe athis belt, and blowing a long horn that has a banner hanging fromit. His pose makes it appear that he is striding forward whilesending out whatever signal to accompanying troops. The Musician’scompanion, the Standard, not quite so heavily armored.He wears plate pauldrons, helm and knee cops. The rest of theattire could either be painted to resemble cloth or leather. Froma personal preference I would have like to have seen their armorswitched. Historically, a standard bearer tended to draw a lot ofattention from the enemy. Bringing down a standard could inhibitan enemy’s ability to find a rally point. Also, allowing thestandard to be captured was a great shame for a unit. You’dwant your standard bearer to have as much protection as possible.The detail on these two models is well done without going overboard.The armored parts are crisply defined and easy to pickout with a brush. I thought that some of the cloth parts couldhave used a little more detail. One thing I found confusing wasthe inclusion in the package of an extra horn and standard. Theyare identical to what the models are holding. So, you get a coupleof extra bits to use with other figures or scenery.Ok, back to my versatility comment. These models could easilyfit in with a late medieval or early renaissance army from WesternEurope. So, if you play large scale DBM, Armati, WarhammerAncient Battles, or other historical systems you might givethese guys a perusal. They could give you some more varietythat other manufacturerscan’t.14303 Logan Battlefury,Dwarf BarbarianWarlord $5.99Sculpted by JasonWiebeYes, I know that I’veharped on the usabilityof many figures in Cadwallonand I’m not quitedone yet. Maybe after I play a few games I’ll be back down tonormal levels of enthusiasm, but I’ve got to get through the rulebook(yes, with all of its translation issues) first. Anyway,Logan Battlefury is a dwarf warlord for the dwarves in Reaper’sgame Warlord, but there are multiple uses for this figure.It comes in four pieces and had a bit of cleaning that was neededon each piece before assembly. Mold lines were visible in a51

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006couple places but were easily smoothed out. Logan is a stocky,but quite fit and not fat, dwarf. He wears little in the way ofarmor but has two verylarge stone axes, with flatsides for pounding insteadof cutting. The head is aseparate piece with severalbraids instead of amass of flowing hair. Hereminds me of old GWTroll-Slayers, only better!It’s in a dynamic poserunning forward and iswell detailed. The face/head have more detail andcharacter than the picturesuggests. It’s quite welldone. Around the back ofhis waist is a large hornused to either demoralize foes or call for reinforcements. I likethe pose of the model, but think it would look even better on anelevated base like the one above.14304 Logrim Battlefury, Dwarf Paladin Captain $5.99Sculpted by Bobby JacksonAh… at last. A good looking Dwarf model that is swinging abastard sword rather than an axe or a hammer. Not that I haveanything against axes and hammers, its just that I have foundthat when looking for a dwarf with a sword, your options arerather limited. This particular dwarf is a two piece solid castBeer Garden Beautywith Beer BarrelPyramid $11.25Sculpted by PatrickKeithThe barmaid figurecomes as four piecesplus a round plasticslotted base. The barmaidfigure itself is asingle piece. Sculpted as a single piece, it is necessarily a basictwo-dimensional pose, but the sculptor has done a very good jobof working in this medium. The figure is sculpted with a frillyshort skirt and low cut bodice - When I first saw the figure, myimmediate thought was of the St Pauli Girl ads. There is no flashand a very slight mold line on the raised tankard. The facial detailsare exaggerated, but just enough to give the figure a broadgrin. The tab at the model's feet fits easily into the slotted base -though it is loose enough that there is some rocking. Personally Iwould prefer a tab that was slightly larger to simplify assembly.The other four pieces are a stack of beer barrels - two moldedside by side with a third molded to sit on top. The barrels haveno mold lines and have a nice wood grain carved into them.Scrolls are sculpted onto either side of the double barrel and ofmodel and of course hecomes complete with asquare plastic slotta baseand a Warlord data card.The two pieces that make upthe model are his torso,which is the bulk of themodel, and is a piece thatencompasses the unusualcombination of head and leftarm. The piece attaches atthe neck in a large ball insocket joint making for avery solid joint. The sword,though long, has enoughmetal in it to make it very rigid so there is nothing on the modelthat will easily break or even bend. He essentially comes readyto paint (after gluing him together) as there is no mold lines andhardly any excel metal on him to speak of. As for detail, thislittle guy is heavily armored and he must be pretty well-to-dobecause his armor is very ornate with its detail standing out verynicely. I know this guy is supposed to be a captain in the Dwarvenarmy for Warlord, but I think he is also an excellent choicefor a dwarven character in a fantasy RPG game.Reviews by Mark Theurer, Clay Richmond andBrian Ahrensthe single barrel - a perfect place to paint XXX for your brew.The single barrel has a small indentation on one end where thefourth piece, a tap, fits. The tap, like the other parts of themodel, is free of flash and only has a slight mold line. Once assembled,the barrel stack plus the barmaid makes a very nicemini-diorama, perfect for any RPG (fantasy or modern Oktoberfest)or bar fight game. They could also be used well as part ofa baggage diorama for a human fantasy army.In addition the figure itself, about 1 oz of green stuff putty(separate blue and yellow pieces) and a wire armature are included.This is a nice touch, especially if your ribbon of epoxyputty has gone all stale and dry. Though this particular cast didnot need the putty, as the mold is used more, I can see where itwould be useful for assembly. For those of a more artisticnature, there is enough putty for slight modifications of thefigure.Review by J Michael Tisdel52

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 20068031 and 8032 Wood Elf Scouts $3.00 eachSculpted by Tom MeierNewly arrived fromthe talented handsof Tom Meier aresome wood elves.These two, bothscouts, are wearingvery light armor(cloth and leather)and carry an ornatelysculpted bow.They are bothsculpted with veryappropriate proportionsand may seemkind of slight when compared to other manufacturer’s figuresbut the detail is just wonderful. The faces are expertly done andthe hair on the second one superb. Both are sculpted onto smallintegrated bases and they would be easy to drop onto regularbases (built up with a bit of green stuff) bases to use as regularinfantry or player-character models. Both of them are a bitsmaller than many other company’s figures, but I really see noreason why they could not be used to supplement existing unitsor make up ones entirely from Thunderbolt Mountain’s ranges.Mold lines were limited to the base and I found no flash thatneeded to be removed. Detail is just amazing, down to the frillon their cloaks, and instead of intimidating non-expert painters(like me!) they should be looked at as a challenge with which toimprove your abilities.8041 Wood Elf Champion (foot and mounted set) $10.50Sculpted by Tom MeierYou can actually get the models in this set separately or as a set,in fact you can even get the horse separately, or you can buythem in quantities of six to get a nice discount.It’s a lot of good looking lead foryour money if you ask me. Any way, themounted model is a new 30mm elvencavalry figure and cavalry models aresomething that Thunderbolt Mountaindoes VERY well. This figure is no exception.There are a total eight piecesincluded with this particular model, butthree of them are different choices ofheads, of which you obviously only useone. The rider and horse come as separatepieces and then the last three piecesare his shield, sword, and lance. The eitherthe sword or the lance fits into hiscurved hand perfectly and the shield fitsover a small nub on his left hand. Thesword you just also glue to his leg or hip,but for the mounted version of this guythe sword is optional if you have the riderarmed with the lance.There are a few minor mold lines on the mount, but nothingsignificant on the other pieces and flash is only a minor issue allaround. There is a tab connecting the rider’s feet that has to beremoved, and a support stud for one of the horses upraisedhooves that also has to be removed. The three heads are allmounted on a common sprue as are the shield and weapons, sothere is some small amount of cleanup required there aswell. The final product is really a great looking cavalry piece. Ithink that the Thunderbolt Mountain horses are some of the besthorse models out there, and this one has a really cool breastplate that definitely has an elven look and feel to it. As for thefoot version of the model, the sprue of heads is the same and thesprue with the shield and weapons is the same, though this timenot using the lance would be my personal choice. The body ofthe model is about the same as the body on the horse, only nowhe has his feet firmly placed on good ole mother earth. Thechoice of three different heads for either of the models is a verynice feature as the three different heads eachgive their owe flavor to the model as a whole,and if you don’t want to have a foot andmounted version of the same model, you justuse different heads and presto, you have twoseparate unrelated models. If you happen tohave some of the mounted nobles, or footnobles from Thunderbolt Mountain, this is agreat model to function as their leader.Reviews by Mark Theurer andClay Richmond53


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006MEO1084 Tik Tok, Tru-Keen Ranger $9.99Sculpted by Chaz ElliotEven among MagnificentEgo's range ofrather unique charactersTik Tok standsout in my mind. ATru-Keen (yes, prettymuch the same as aThri-Kreen or mantiswarrior in D&D minusany copyrighthassles) or humanoidinsect,Tik Tok comesin four pieces (head,quiver, body and twoother arms carrying abow) and cleaningconsisted mainly of afew faint mold linessome tiny bits offlash. Really notmuch at all. There was some bending in the blister of theswords and the arrow and you'll want to be extra careful if youneed to fix yours as the parts are kind of thin. The sword-armsare poseable, if you're careful, but it's really not necessary tomove them around. The flatness of the main body piece isnicely offset by the bow-carrying arms that stick out in front ofthe model. The head and quiver fit right into place without aproblem. I like the model quite a bit and it's strange and unusualappearance make it ideal for either a weird enemy boss or playercharacter. If I could figure out a way to remove the bow and puta long bladed weapon in his hands I'd use him as a Minion TotemHunter in Hordes.MEO1121 Malice, The Blackguard $34.99Sculpted by Chaz ElliotBoy, you sure do get a bunch of pieces in this boxed set. Youget Malice on a nightmare and on foot. The foot version is atwo-piece model with about two-thirds of his cape coming as aseparate metal piece while the rest of the model is cast in resin.I don't get why the 'foot' version was done in resin as it seemsmore suited to being a regular metal figure. But just like Lo Pansaid in "Big Trouble in Little China" I was not put here to get it.Details on his plate armor are sharp and clean and look verynice. There is a seam that will need filling with putty where thetwo parts of the cape meet. The mounted version is also madeup of resin and metal parts. The horse and rider are both resinand each are beautiful. The horse if perched kind of precariouslyon some rocks which look more than a bit unstable, but Ilike the effect of it being up off the ground. You have a choicebetween arming Malice with either a sword or lance and thereare two extra bits of flame that attach around the neck of thenightmare. The cape on the rider will need much less, if any,putty to fill in where the two pieces come together. The finalmetal piece is the ears and some more flames that attach to thehead of the nightmare.55You get that resin smell from the figure and you should takecare when cleaning it as resin has different cleaning needs thanmetal. You'll (or at least I do) do more scraping than cutting andwhen you do need to cut or clip something you'll want to beextra careful as you could inadvertently snap something off.Just take your time and be careful. This is definitely more of amodel than a regular miniature and is not one that I'd recommendas someone's first figure to assemble. If you have a bit ofmodeling experience you should be just fine. I have very specificplans in mind for the mounted version of Malice. With anyluck, and just a bit of skill (but truthfully I'll need to be morelucky than skillful) I plan on converting Malice into a CygnarStorm Lancer Lieutenant.MEO1042 Anya, Pirate Queen $5.99Sculpted by James VanSchaikAnya is a two piece solid cast model that is so full of intricatedetail that just looking at it might scare off inexperienced painters.The model is nearly a one piece model, with only the sword(that attaches at the hip) coming as a separate piece. The swordattaches with a nice ball in socket joint, so it will stand up tomore than a little abuse, but even so, this would have to be theweakest point on the model since the rest is simply solid as arock. Also included with the model is the standard square plasticslotta base. The primary thing that anyone will get whenlooking at this model is the sharpness of the lines making all thedetail very distinct and easy to identify. Combine that with the

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006ABG 0000 Rezolution Shadow War 2-Player Starter Game$50.00Shadow War is Aberrant Games' starter box that allows twopeople to jump into Rezolution head first. It includes twelveminiatures, six each for APAC (the Asian influenced faction)and CSO (the more traditional military type faction), a handfulof dice and more. From just a cost standpoint you're making outquite well with the Shadow War box if you've not yet jumpedinto Rezolution. You get as many figures as in two factionstarter sets, a deviation die (same as in a single faction box), sixd6 (which is six more than in a faction box), a tape measure, anda rulebook that's not only a huge step foreward from the quickstartrules in the faction boxes, but one that incorporates the latfactthat the casting is a veryclean casting with hardly anymold lines or flash to speak of,and you have one great littlepirate model. Unlike some ofthe female pirate models thatyou see, this one does not looklike she is competing in a bathingsuit contest, but rather isdressed in what I would considerto be "in character" clothingappropriate for the period.I like this model a lot and thinkit might be a great model foryou painters that would like achallenge.MEO1036 T'Sharo, Druidic Plant Man $7.99Sculpted by Clint StaplesMagnificent Egos never fails to come up with models that fewpeople might imagine, and this one falls in that category. Thisguy comes in four pieces and stands on a standard sized squareplastic slotta base. His torso is the largest of the pieces, with thelong scythe he carries coming in second. The final to pieces arehis antlers and left arm. The Antlers attach to the top of his headwith a nice little pin and fits into place easily and nicely. Theleft arm and scythe also fits together with small pins, but theyare a bit more of a challenge since they need to be attached tothe main torso at the same time. There were a number of easy toremove metal leftovershanging offthe growthssprouting from thecreatures back,and a large tab onthe end of the haftof the scythe, butbesides that, therest of the modelwas clean of mostother flash, moldlines and debris.The model is balancefairly welland no real weakpoints though itwould behooveyou not to be toorough with the antlers and the branches growing out of the modelsback. If your looking for a "out of the ordinary" encounter, Ithink you will get exactly that with this model.Reviews by Mark Theurer andClay Richmondest game erratta. The only thing you don't get in the ShadowWar box that you would get in the faction boxes is the CD withthe amazing WorldWorks terrain that was made for Rezolution.What really sets the Shadow War box apart from just picking uptwo faction sets (aside from the rulebook) is that you get somenew figures that are, currently anyway, otherwise unavailable.It's a 2-player starter set that really does allow two players tostart Rezolution factions and play right out of the box. And it'sten bucks cheaper than buying two faction boxes.The rulebook is a black and white digest-sized softcover bookthat's well laid out and easy to read. It's missing about 99% ofthe fluff from the regular rulebook, but it's intended to get youinto the rules of the game quickly and easily and it accomplishesthat very well. What's missing from the Shadow War rulebookare the special ability listings that appear in the regular book.This is really less of an issue than you might think becuase all ofa model's special abilities are printed on their datacards and youget those in the blister of the figures. It would be nice for themto be in the book so you could check up on your opponent'stroops before being bushwacked by them but space limitations,and the fact that they are on the datacards, probably made it aneasy section to leave out of the book. You get seven missions,instead of six in the regular rulebook, to play through and forplayers that already have the Rezolution: A Dark Tomorrowrulebook can pas this one to a potential new player or use it as acopy that you won't mind marking up and making notes in. If56

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006All are good basic modelsand a good start for a CSOarmy.you're so inclined there is also a version of Shadow War thatgives you the original rulebook (reviewed in a previous editionof Fictional Reality) for just $20 more which is another $5 offwhat you would normally pay if bought seperately.All models in the box come with appropriate datacards. TheAPAC figs include four Enforcers which are each single piecemodels that form the backbone of the faction's fighters. Theyare armed with bladed weapons and either machine pistols orsubmachineguns. The Yuurie is a different sculp than you get inthe APAC faction box and is easily identifyable as a techie dueto the cabling that goes from a box on her belt and plugs into herhead. The big deal on the APAC side is the inclusion of Hitomi.It's a multi-piece cyborg that's the same size as the APAC TADSand comes with an elevated extension to his base, which issculpted to look like some wreckage or debris. Everyoneneeded a bit of cleaning but there were no defects on any ofthem.There are six different CSO models here and they are all in differentposes. There are also three data cards included for thedifferent model types you find here. Four of the models areCSO Troopers, and they each come armed with an assault rifleand carry a 9mm pistol at their hip. These guys are outfitted andarmed very similar to a modern day soldiers or marines. Two ofthe four trooper models come in three pieces, where the othertwo come in four pieces. All four come with their heads detached,and in fact all four heads are attached to a commonsprue. The necks sit down into well formed pockets making asolid, as well as a hidden, joint. The third piece of the threepiece models is a piece that includes both arms and the assaultriffle that they hold. The arms come with a sprue between themfor support and the arms fit onto any of the four trooper modelswith flat surface to surface joints. The other two models havethe arms separated into different pieces, but of course still usethe flat faced joints. The fifth figure, the technician, is a twopiece model where the second piece is only the radio that fitsflat onto his back. Finally we have the sixth model, our ownMarshal Renton, which comes in a single piece. All the modelsdon’t have much in the way of mold lines and the flash and excessmetal is not too bad either. The worse part of course iscleaning off all the sprues from the trooper’s heads and arms.The Shadow War box set ishighly recommended toplayers wanting to get intoRezolution. Since all ofthe changes/updates to therules are available on thewebsite existing players arenot "forced" to buy the setto keep place with peoplethat buy Shadow War.From a standpoint of tryingto keep their existing fanbase happy and also providean easy way for newplayers to get into the gameAberrant has really done awonderful job.Review by Mark Theurer and Clay RichmondAmazing War Stories:Pulp Action in World War II $20.00Basics: Amazing War Stories:Pulp Action in World War II is thenewest scenario book from RattrapProductions. It is a supplement fortheir 28mm miniatures game, .45Adventure. This book sets out toprovide players with pulp-styleaction set in the background ofWorld War II. It introduces newmilitary archetypes to the gamefrom the greenest GIs to the veteranSuper Soldier; rocket poweredtroops to everyone’s favorite…Nazi zombies.The full color cover (by Ronald Smith) of Amazing War Storiessums up these contents quite well. In a cavern you have a bikini-cladfemale strapped down to a table and next to her standsa mad-looking scientist with one hand on a big switch and in theother some type of radio or remote control. In the foregroundyou see two American soldiers taking on undead, German soldiers.How can you not like something like that? One tiny detailthat I found very interesting about the Americans is that theyare both left-handed. You don’t see many left-handed subjectsin artwork these days. You also get some new abilities and newscenarios.Presentation: Richard A. Johnson has done another credible jobin filling a rather bare niche in the role playing game market.Finding pulp era games and adventures is a somewhat dauntingtask. If Mr. Johnson can keep turning out quality products suchas Amazing War Stories then the fans of this genre will sleepeasier at night. This tome comes in at a respectable 112 pages.It is perfect bound with a soft cover. Interior artwork consists ofblack and white drawing, pencil sketches, and black and whitephotographs that could have been taken during the playing of57

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006one of the enclosed scenarios.The tome is divided up with all the new bells and whistles upfront. You start off with a new rule: Demolitions. This ruleappears in the main rulebook, but is reprinted here due to anothertype of explosive being added to the mix. Next comesnew equipment. You can’t go wrong with a rocket pack. Everypulp games needs rocket packs. Also, you get rules for silencers,light and medium machine guns, and my personal favorite;the zombie inhibitor box. Next up are some new abilities. Severalnew combat skills, knowledge skills, and some skills that goin an “other” section; i.e. Cause Fear, Inspiring Leadership,Meet My Minions, etc. The following section deals with newHeroic Virtues and Villainous Flaws.In the New Character Archetypes section, the largest part of thebook, one will find all kinds of real-world characters for theAllies and the Axis such as Non-Commissioned Officers andCommandos. You will also find fictional items such as a RussianPeasant Ghoul (that’s what happens when you go cannibalon a Nazi zombie), Rocket Troopers, and Super Soldiers. ASuper Soldier with a Rocket Pack would just be plain rude.Lastly there are several pages of several pages of personalitiesthat go along with the miniatures that Rattrap Productions hasput out so far. There are two added bonuses. A number of encountercards and blank Hero/Villain sheets are found at theback of the book. Oh, and we can’t forget about the twelve newscenarios. Half of which are military in nature the others being“normal” pulp adventures.Value: Twenty dollars is well worth the price of admission forall the tidbits that I have described above. All in all AmazingWar Stories: Pulp Action in World War II is very impressiveachievement from a company that is giving people of my ilk(pulp game enthusiasts) a place to indulge their imaginationsthat are filled by scenes from The Shadow, Doc Savage, Tarzan,and Flash Gordon (books and old serials, not the poor qualitymore modern movies).These scenarios are very versatile and are only constrictedby the imagination of those playing in them. Not all ofthese vignettes have to played in a fantastic or weird setting.Zombies and Super Soldiers can be left out completelyso that a game can be kept in the “real” world.If you have the slightest interest in pulp role-playing orminiature games then this book should be a part of yourgaming collection. As the writer put it “…grab your steelpot and M-1 and get ready for some Amazing War Stories.”Personal: I had the good fortune to meet the writer of thisbook in July at Historicon. Richard was very pleasant totalk to. He was quite patient with my many questionsabout his game and where he planned to take it in the future.He and his group put on some very entertaininggames of .45 Adventure during the four days of the convention.They had what was possibly the best terrainthere. One adventure setting was on a Nazi airship58(remember the ones from Sky Captain and the World ofTomorrow?) complete with Rocket Troopers and Nazizombies. The other was a beautiful desert based archaeologicaldig with a monster scarab guarding the artifact forwhich all the players were hunting. Richard and his comradesshowed a lot of enthusiasm for their product and puton games that tended to draw a crowd of onlookers. Eventhose that were on their way to other games slowed downto get a better look at what was going on. That right thereis one of the marks of a good product.Review by Brian AhrensLooks Could Kill, written by Nancy A.Collins, is part of the Final Destinationseries of books, utilizing concepts andsometimes characters from the Final Destinationmovies. This particular booktakes place in between the second andthird movie, but only makes slight referencesto the concepts and occurrencesfrom the first two movies. One does notneed to have seen either movie to “grasp”this book. The story centers on a supermodel,Sherry, who foresees an accident,and alerts others to it, thus preventing theirand her own death. However, in the aftermathof the accident, she is disfigured, thus ending her career asa supermodel, and alienating her from her friends. Death comesto visit her, and makes her a deal that if she helps him right thewrongs that occurred, or in other words help those that survivedthe accident to die, he will restore her beauty before the accidentoccurred. The rest of the novel follows Sherry as she visits allher former friends, and helping Death achieve his goals, in differentand increasingly gruesome fashion.This book is one of a type I like to call an airplane book. It isone that you can read and complete over the duration of an airplanetrip, and if you happen to leave it on the plane, it’s no bigloss. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love horror movies and books.In fact, I enjoyed the first Final Destination movie. However,this book veers from the original premise that made both movieswatchable and interesting. Death didn’t need any help in thefirst two movies, and really doesn’t need any help in this book.Other than introducing a new “element” to one of the deathscenes, and not helping one of the characters in another, Sherryplays no part in whether or not, or even how, the characters die.The story is very formulaic, and the ending is predictable. Theonly original parts of the book are the different ways in whicheach character dies, and some of those are rip-offs as well. As Istated, you can finish this book over the time it takes to fly on anairplane to your destination, and at the least, it will serve thepurpose of preventing the person sitting next to you from talkingto you, so it’s not a complete waste of time. Overall, I give it 1½ stars out of 5. It’s not a keeper, heck it’s not even one to pickup at the used bookstore. But, if you find it in the seat of yourairplane, it will occupy your time until you land.Review by Clay Richmond

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006Comanche TroubleAn Adventure for Sidewinder: Recoiled in 3 ActsThis is the third part of the adventure, it began in Act I, “Wesleyis a Punk” and continued in Act II, “Where’s Tony?”.IntroductionIt’s the mid-1870’s and the expansion westward is in full swing.Though the Civil War is over as is the California Gold Rush,there are still people streaming westward looking for opportunityin the west.Texas is no longer the wild Mexican colony, it’s starting to settledown – but it still has a ways to go. There are still outlaws,bandit gangs, hustlers, and renegade Indian tribes. There’s stillplenty of adventure in North Texas; still plenty of trouble forthose looking for it – and for those trying to avoid it.Comanche Trouble is an adventure in 3 acts for Sidewinder:Recoiled. It is designed for a party of 3-5 characters of 3rd to5th level. In this adventure, the players are stuck in the area ofFt. Griffin in a town called The Flat.On their first night, the party run into Vern The Punk Wesley, awanted outlaw who starts a bar fight. As if that wasn’t enough,the next day a well-known Mexican merchant goes missing –and when he’s found, it’s in the middle of a rampaging warparty of Comanche’s. What is the connection between the merchantand the Comanche? How does this involve the circuitridingpreacher? And how can the folks of The Flat defendthemselves from an attack by Comanches while the soldiers ofthe fort are out on maneuvers?Act III – Comanche RaidAct III takes place the evening after Act III. This act covers theattack of the Comanches on the town of Ft. Griffin. Unlike theother two acts, this will be a much more combat oriented act.Much of it will depend on the actions and plans of the characters– and how they manage to lead the residents in the defense oftheir town.There are two ways to run this act, depending on the group’splay style. A group that uses miniatures will find that markingout the city defenses on a mat will help in the execution of theact - the act will be a table-top wild west skirmish game. Agroup that uses more role-play will find that the action will splitinto scenes involving only some of the characters. These scenesshould be played like a Hollywood western movie, to keep thedrama and tension up.This act is divided into two sections – resources and encounters.The Resources section gives information needed by the refereeabout the town and the surrounding environments. This is informationthat will be needed by the players when planning theirdefense. The encounters area includes the introductory scenes aswell as the finale, but it its mainly composed of scenes of thefighting.ResourcesComanche RidersThe Comanche have about 30 remaining braves, including SoaringEagle and Running Foal. Note that this total does not includethe braves encountered in Act II. The breakdown of Comancheforces is:• 24 braves (low-level Comanche)• 5 war leaders (mid-level Comanche, including RunningFoal)• Soaring EagleThe braves are armed with a Comanche Lance and a bow. Somebraves and all the war leaders are armed with a ComancheLance and a Spencer Carbine. Of course, each brave has a horseand is well versed in using it.Valmont PlantVal, who shot his way out of town at the end of Act I, ran backto his house. Yesterday, after the young braves took over, Val’sfarm was raided and Val was captured, along with Shelley, 14-year old sister. Running Foal used Shelley to blackmail Val intohelping with the attack on the town.TownsfolkFort Griffin is not a small town – even though the adventure tothis point might give that impression. As such, there are quite afew townsfolk who can be drafted into a militia. However, thetown’s unplanned growth means that the town isn’t too defensibleas is.The town consists of the following folks, in addition to theNPC’s mentioned earlier:• 60 Military age men with some fighting experience; thisincludes townsfolk of all races.• 20 Young men, between 16 and 20 that can shoot but haveno fighting experience.• 17 Older men, between 50 and 70, who have military experienceand are still able to fight.• 104 Non-combatants, including children under the age of16, women and invalids.• 15 Malcontents who won’t fight but might take advantageof the situation in an underhanded way – robbery, vandalism,rape, etc.• 40 Pacifists who will not join in the fight no matter what.In general, everyone owns at least a handgun and the majorityhave rifles. This, of course, excludes the Pacifists and children.Some of the Non-combatants have pistols for personal defenseonly.The FortFort Griffin overlooks the town and is composed of a few buildings,of which only the magazine and the guardhouse are madeof stone. The others are out of wood gathered locally, and arenot too stable (average 10 structure points). The fort is even lessdefensible that then town, as any defenders would have theirbacks to the cliff.There is a single 12-pound cannon on the parade ground as wellas four wagons.59


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006There are twelve horses in the corral, of which eight are draftanimals suited to pulling the wagons and the cannon. Hitchingup the horses at night is a DC 15 Handle Animal check. Maneuveringthe horses down to the town is a DC 10 Handle Animalcheck, as they are used to the path.The Magazine has enough guns and ammunition to equip thetownsfolk and give them over 100 rounds each. There are alsobarrels of gunpowder and 48 cannon balls.There are currently two men in the bunkhouse, one for beingdrunk on duty and the other for striking a superior officer. Bothare good men and will join in the defense of the town.The GarrisonEven with the soldiers gone, there is still a garrison at the fort.The garrison consists of:• 30 soldiers, including privates and corporals, including CplRandolph Agarn.• 3 Sergeants, including Sgt. Morgan O’Rourke• Capt. William ParmenterIn addition to the garrison, the townsfolk fill other support roles.The soldiers have the skills required to setup and fire the cannon.experience points, with another 100 if they can sing the themesong. (http://www.timvp.com/ftroop.html).The CannonThe Cannon is an exotic firearm. If operated by someone withoutthe Exotic Firearm feat suffers a -4 penalty on all attackrolls. In addition, the ROF is halved. The cannon is also acrewed weapon, requiring at least two men to operate efficiently.Firing the cannon alone incurs a -2 penalty on all attackrolls and reduces the ROF in half. Note that this means that asingle untrained man firing the cannon suffers a -6 to hit penaltyand has an ROF of 1/8 (i.e. it can be fired once every eightrounds). The choice of ammunition – ball or grapeshot – doesnot affect the ROF or to hit roll.Grapeshot may hits all models in a 40’ long cone that is 20’wide at its base. The point of the code is measured from themouth of the cannon. When firing the cannon, roll once to hit allmodels in the cone. All models in the cone make a reflex save.A successful save halves the damage. The cannonball is an explosivecharge covering a 20’ diameter area. Roll to hit as normal.If there is a figure hit at the aiming point, they suffer4d8+10 damage. Anyone else in the area of effect suffers 4d8damage. A successful reflex save halves the damage.Yes, the NPC characternames have been takenfrom F Troop. The firstplayer to recognize thisshould be awarded 100Table 1 - 12-pounder Cannon (Exotic Weapon)Weapon Ammo Dam Crit Rng ROF Mag Size12-pound Cannon Cannonball 4d8(+10) 16 200 ½ 1 H12-pound Cannon Grapeshot 2d10 20 40 ½ 1 HEncountersThere are two types of encounters in this section, generaland combat. The general encounters are not sequentiallike those in Acts I and II. Rather their order dependsupon the actions and plans of the party. The combat encountersdo occur in sequential order and chronicle theattack on the town.Visiting The FortThe way to the fort is a winding road cut into the cliffface. It is off the south road about 200 yards out of town.It is wide enough for a wagon and two horse outriders totravel comfortably down it. The road ascends about 150yards to the top of the cliff where the fort resides. Theroad enters the fort from the south and terminates at theCommander’s Quarters.Armed sentries posted near the guardhouse will challengeanyone coming up the road. One sentry stands next to alarge barrel ring that is sounded to alert the camp. One ofthe sentries will take the party to the Commander’s quarterswhere they will rouse Capt. William Parmenter.Tucker. The Captain will be sleepy but will wake up fastonce he hears the news. He will send Corporal Agar torouse the men.It will take about an hour to get the men together anddown to the village; this includes bringing the cannon.61

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006The SheriffBilly Cruger has locked himself in the jail and turned all theprisoners loose – telling them to “git the hell out of town now”.He’s finished one bottle of whiskey and is now working on hissecond. As the party approaches the jail, his drunken, off-keysinging can be heard. A successful Listen Check (DC 20) willreveal that Billy is sobbing as he sings.It will require quite a bit of banging on the door or window toget his attention. Billy will reply to any request with a slurred“Ya better git outta town!” and return to his singing. If anyonetries to force his way in, Billy will start shooting randomly. Everyoneclose to the jail must take a Reflex save (DC 10). A failurewill result in them being hit by a stray shot (1d6 damage).The jail door and windows are pretty stout – 15 structure points,but the lock is simple (DC 10). If the party enters the jail, Billywill stand up and try to shoot at them, but his gun will be empty.Failing this, he will charge then nearest person. When he’s defeated,Billy will drop down crying and be useless for the rest ofthe adventure if he is tackled.If the party leaves Billy alone he will stumble out of the jail duringthe attack (see below).The Creek and BridgeA creek runs around the north and west of the town. There is abridge to the North where the main road crosses the creek. Thecreek averages about 5’ deep and the water is moving fast. Thecreek shallows to 2 feet at the Fourth street ford.The bridge is low and sturdy, as it handles all the traffic in andout of the town. It has 30 structure points and is too damp toburn.The ford and the bridge are the only two places where the rivercan be easily crossed. At other places, a successful Swim check(DC 15) or Handle Animal check (DC 20) are required to crossit.Defense of the TownGiven the players plenty of time to setup their defenses – to deploytheir townsfolk and the soldiers. Once this has happened,move to the Dawn encounter. Let the players deploy their forcesas they see fit, however the Comanche raiders will only hit a fewplaces – these are:• Fourth Street Ford• River Bridge• Thorpe’s Blacksmith• South RoadThe attacks at each of these sites are covered in the encounterslisted below.Dawn62River BridgeThe first attack is on the River Bridge. This is a diversion to pullthe defenders north and away from the main attack. There are 4braves and Running Foal. They are in bushes on the north sideof the bridge and armed with Carbines. They will begin by snipingat any defenders – and making lots of noise while doing it.Their horses are tied up well behind them. Their job is to pindown the defenders and try to bring others out.After a few rounds of sniping, two braves will start shootingflaming arrows at the bridge in an attempt to set it on fire. Foreach arrow that hits there, make a basic DC check of 20. ThisDC is modified by +2 for each flaming arrow that is embeddedin the bridge. A successful check will mean that the bridge hascaught fire. As it is so damp, it will smolder for 1d4 rounds beforethe fire catches. Once the fire starts, there will be quite a bitof smoke, which will obscure the far side of the river.It will take another 1d4 rounds for the fire to get going good. Atthis point, the braves, lead by Running Foal will charge acrossthe bridge and toward the defenders. The defenders must make aWill save (DC 15) or break and run. A character leading thedefenders may use his Charisma modifier for this Will save.They will try to break through and head into town to slaughteras many as they can.Thorpe’s BlacksmithAs soon as the river bridge assault starts, five braves and a warleader will enter the creek just opposite Thorpe’s Blacksmith.They are armed with bows and are moving silently to cross theriver and sneak into town. Val Plant is among these braves.Their aim is the blacksmith shop.Anyone guarding this part of the river may make an opposedSpot check to see the braves cross. Due to the low light, there isa -2 modifier to the Spot check. A failed check means that thebraves were able to cross without being seen.When the braves reach the west bank, anyone guarding this aremay make an opposed Listen check to see if they hear the invadingbraves.If the braves are spotted, they will attack the guards, other wisethey will move to the Blacksmith and lay low.Fourth Street FordAbout 10 rounds after the River Bridge fight starts, a group of10 braves on horseback lead by two war leaders will charge towardthe ford. Only the leaders have carbines, and all will bebrandishing their lances and hoping it up. All townsfolk defendersin the path of the Comanches must make a Will Save (DC15) or break and run. If the defenders are lead by a character, thecharacter may use his Charisma modifier on their Will save.Things are quite as dawn approaches – every one of the defenders is keyed up – ears straining for the firstsound that will signal the Comanche’s assault. Both townsman and soldier are nervous – false bravadolong ago gave way to this painful silence. A silence where even the birds and bugs make no noise.As the sun breaks over the horizon, the silence is broken by the cry of a rooster in town. Another birdcalland another and another answer this – but these come from outside the defenses. As the silence returns,the defenders wipe their hands and take a fresh grip on their weapons.The braves will attemptto break through and killas many defenders aspossible. They will try topull the defenders backdown from the RiverBridge.


Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006Thorpe’s Blacksmith 2As the braves break close the defenders at the ford, the braves atThorpe’s Blacksmith will set the smithy on fire and begin tomove into town and surround the ford’s defenders.If Billy Cruger was left in the jail, he will come out now with hisguns blazing. Val Plant will head for Billy and try to get hishelp. Billy’s blind drunk and doesn’t know who Val is.Val will try to get away from the braves and join the defenders ifhe gets past Billy. He will try and get someone to help him rescuehis sister. Two older Comanche’s who have orders to killher if Valentine turns, are holding her just west of the town.South RoadWhen the Blacksmith catches fire, Soaring Eagle, a war leader,and five mounted braves will charge the defenders from thesouth. The defenders must make a Will save (DC 15) or breakand run. A character leading the defenders may use his Charismamodifier for this Will save. The objective of the braves isto turn east on the footpath and the turn up Parson Avenue, killingeverything in their way. All the braves are armed with carbines,but will only use these once they break through.old men. They will quietly accept their fallen and captured.Their will is broken and will meekly move to a reservation whenthe cavalry return.Table 2 - Act III Experience PointsGoal XP NotesSurviving the Adventure 2,000 Each survivor gets the XPaward.Killing Soaring Eagle 2,000 All PC involved split the XPaward.Killing Billy Cruger -500 The PC who killed Billy.Killing a brave +650 For each brave killedKilling a war leader +750 For each war leader killedWritten by J Michael TisdelShelley PlantTwo Mid-level Comanche warriors are sitting in a small clearingwest of town. Between them, Shelley Plant is tied to a pecantree. Neither are on watch, looking for any kind of action – theyare laughing and talking about the spoils they’ll get from thetown. There is a +2 modifier to any Move Silently checks.The braves have orders to kill Shelley if Val returns withoutSoaring Eagle or if they are attacked. The braves are armed withknives and bows.Soaring EagleThere should be enough defenders to eventually end the raid ofthe Comanche – Soaring Eagle knows this, but wants to go outin a blaze of glory rather than die meekly on a reservation. Assuch, Soaring Eagle will not surrender – if cornered, he will tryto go out in a blaze of glory and take as many innocents withhim as possible.Once Soaring Eagle is dead, the Comanche’s will to fight willbe broken. It will be an easy matter to round up the survivorsand deal with them. The party will need to be careful that thetownsfolk don’t’ lynch them. The troops will be their allies insuch an internal struggle.ResolutionThe Parson, if he survives, will head out of town as soon as hecan.Billy Cruger will leave town and travel to Arkansas where hewill spend the rest of his days with his sister, eventually dyingduring the 1918 Influenza pandemic.Claire will remain in town with Swartz and will recover in abouttwo weeks. She will eventually marry Sheriff Maynard Mansfieldand work as a secretary at the Fort.The Comanche village is quiet – there are women, children, and64

Fictional Reality 25 SEP 2006 - Mega Miniatures

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