A bit of filler

Hi all

Firstly an apology, I know I'd promised the final part to my latest ATZ episode, but I just haven't managed to get the game written up.  No, I'm not trying to build up the suspense, I'm rather hoping the story itself will do that, but rather the more mundane excuse of real life. Yup, it's winter and with the merest caress of snow, our country falls to pieces as does it's population and the NHS is up against the wall, my part of it is under huge amounts of pressure and as a consequence I've been at work more than I've been at home....

Excuses out of the way. I've cobbled together this post which, I hope at least is a small salve to the lack of ATZ goodness.

Over the last six months or so I've been playing more and more modern boardgames, unlike the old family favourites(?) - monopoly and the like, modern boardgames owe more than a passing nod to tabletop wargames.  Filled with strategy, resource management and skill, modern boardgames have, i think, bridged a gap between the two.  

We have an amazing local BG club, All Around the Board hosted by the ever enthusiastic - Darius. Meeting every Monday, we play a huge variety of BGs and RPGs, mostly from Darius's incredible games library as well as some other member's collections. When I do manage to get a Monday night off, I head there with missus Gobbo and master Gobbo and we always have an excellent evening of gaming. 

Where am I going with this you may ask? Well a lot of the modern BGs have a miniature component and I have offered my painting services to the club on a commission basis.  One of my favourites is the RPG - Mice and Mystics.  This is straight from the Plaidhat Games website.

In Mice & Mystics players take on the roles of those still loyal to the king - but to escape the clutches of Vanestra, they have been turned into mice! Play as cunning field mice who must race through a castle now twenty times larger than before. The castle would be a dangerous place with Vanestra's minions in control, but now countless other terrors also await heroes who are but the size of figs. Play as nimble Prince Colin and fence your way past your foes, or try Nez Bellows, the burly smith. Confound your foes as the wizened old mouse Maginos, or protect your companions as Tilda, the castle's former healer. Every player will have a vital role in the quest to warn the king, and it will take careful planning to find Vanestra's weakness and defeat her.

Mice & Mystics is a cooperative adventure game in which the players work together to save an imperiled kingdom. They will face countless adversaries such as rats, cockroaches, and spiders, and of course the greatest of all horrors: the castle's housecat, Brodie. Mice & Mystics is a boldly innovative game that thrusts players into an ever-changing, interactive environment, and features a rich storyline that the players help create as they play the game. The Cheese System allows players to hoard the crumbs of precious cheese they find on their journey, and use it to bolster their mice with grandiose new abilities and overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.

Mice & Mystics will provide any group of friends with an unforgettable adventure they will be talking about for years to come. Assuming they can all squeak by...

The miniatures are really great for a BG and I was more than happy to paint up these bad boys.

Rat guards

giant centipede

spider

As well as these micey miniature heroes

Prince Collin

Maginos - the court wizard

Filch, the thief

Nez, the tinkerer

Lily, the archer

Tilda, the healer

The game offers a really good solo option, which I'm playing here...

this was just before I lost the game!

I also did the miniatures from the 80s classic "The Labyrinth"

Hoggle

Sir Didymus and Ambrosius

Ludo

Sarah

The Goblin King played by the incredible David Bowie)

Lastly, I also started making commission dice towers for the group, specifically designed to order, here are three that I built recently, plus the one I originally built ages ago.

the original tower that I built

I built this for zombie games like "Dead of Winter" and "Zombies!!"

This was a commission for a local games designer for his latest game

made to resemble the Goblin King's castle from Labyrinth

Sorry for the filler post, it was written post night shift, normal service should resume shortly....

hope you enjoy

dGG