Oh, Hypocrisy…

A few weeks ago, I posted an article over on my Patreon (free to read) about why I gave my Dungeons & Dragons 5e books away. Long story short, I didn’t want to support the company, Wizards of the Coast, when there were so many great alternatives available. About a week later, I ordered HeroQuest, a miniature heavy board game produced by Avalon Hill. The problem is, both Wizards of the Coast and Avalon Hill are both ultimately owned by Hasbro.

I didn’t realize this at the time I ordered HeroQuest, but I don't think it would have changed my decision anyway. I have been looking for a long time for a dungeon-crawler style board game to play with my family, especially my kids. We had played Mice & Mystics, which they really enjoyed, but I wanted something that was a bit more classic dungeon-crawling and something that was infinitely expandable. I searched, and searched, and all roads kept pointing back to HeroQuest. There is just nothing else, that I could find, quite like it.

Does this make me a hypocrite? I don’t know. In the case of D&D there are alternatives that I think are just as good (if not better). In the case of HeroQuest, I couldn’t find any.

The world is a big confusing place, and every question that gets asked is a little bit different. It’s hard not to trip over your own feet sometimes, and I doubt any human is 100% consistent.

So, I still believe that it is better to support the small companies, and independent creators, and companies with a better track record towards their employees and fans, but I also believe we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. Those big companies often produce cool stuff. Sometimes it’s the best; sometimes its just loud and shiny and marketed everywhere. And I don't think anyone should feel too guilty about how they spend their hobby money.

Perhaps I'm overthinking this. Apparently, its a habit of mine.

My kids absolutely love HeroQuest. We’ve played a couple of games and they ask for it basically every night (when there usually isn’t time).

Scavenger II

Amazingly, my only miniatures acquisition at Salute this year was the new Stargrave: Scavengers II box. (Those were the only miniatures, there was other stuff...) I was pretty excited to get this, as I've had so much fun kit-bashing and painting the Stargrave plastics, and they didn't disappoint. I quickly assembled a little squad of wastelanders, and here's the first one I painted up!

This figure mostly comes from the Scavengers II box, except the gun arm, which comes from Mercenaries II. The mask is designed to have a gasmask attachment, but I liked the look without it for this figure and left it off. I think it makes the figure strangely menacing. 

Sorry, I didn't have better lighting on the photo. I mainly rely on natural light, and it's in a bit of short supply around here at the moment. Spring teased us for a week, and then went on holiday.  

Salute 2024

 

Despite my slightly uncomfortable look in the photo, I had a fantastic time at Salute, 2024. The Osprey Games crew treated me fantastically, as they always do, and we shared many laughs as well as interesting discussions about games and life.

My hot new product for the show was The Silver Bayonet: Egypt. Apparently a shipment arrived just in time to be available at the show a week or so early. They proved rather popular, and I spent a lot of my day signing books and chatting with fans.

Also new on the stand was the Stargrave: Scavengers II box set. I brought one of these home myself. 

The show seemed extremely well-attended this year - certainly the best in years, if not ever, and the atmosphere was wonderful. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Torchbearer

 

Another 'give it my all' weekend figure. This is another Reaper Bones USA figure sculpted by Bobby Jackson. I wanted to paint it, specifically, because of my recent interest in the OSR style of role-playing. I won't go deep into that topic here, but essentially OSR looks back to the earliest days of role-playing, of Dungeons & Dragons specifically, when 'dungeon crawling' was the central focus of the game. Back in those days, carrying a torch was crucial for dungeon explorers, so crucial, in fact, that adventuring groups often hired someone specifically to carry torches. 

Painting this figure was another way to explore this idea, mentally, while giving my fingers something to do. As always with BJ sculpts cast in either metal or Bones USA, the figure was a delight to paint, with both lots of character, and hard cuts separating detail. 

Playtesting with Mike Hutchinson

There aren't a lot of people that 'do what I do' for a living. Thankfully, one of them lives not too far away. Last week, I met up with Mike Hutchinson (of Gaslands fame) to chat about work and the industry and to eat some good food. That's Mike's full English, while I went for the seaside specialty, the scallop and bacon baguette. 

We also got a chance to have a quick playtest of Flagstone: A #Chess28 Game that Mike has been working on. I'll let him talk tell you more about in the video below, but I think he's onto a winner! 

Rats!

I use a lot of giant rats in my scenarios. In fact, one of the most common comments from new Rangers of Shadow Deep players is just how dangerous giant rats can be. Maybe they wouldn't be so surprised if their giant rats looked like this pair! These are 'Barrow Rats' sculpted by Julie Guthrie for Reaper Miniatures. 

I somehow forgot to include giant rats in The Silver Bayonet rulebook, but they made it into the game in The Carpathians! 

It didn't take too long to paint these guys up, about 2 hours each. I wanted real contrast between their pale flesh, darker hair, and the disease spots that speckle their bodies. It all combines to give them an exceptionally unhealthy look. I can see these guys getting into lots of games.

Look what just arrived. It's my author copies of Frostgrave: Mortal Enemies. I'll be honest, I don't normally read my books when I receive them. I'm too scared of finding a mistake or typo! But I love looking and the beautiful artwork by Ru-Mor and appreciate the skill and effort that went into the design and production of it. And the best part - putting it on the shelf, another volume in the growing Frostgrave library! I'll read it in a year or two, when the dust has settled.

Mortal Enemies officially releases in just over a week, on March 28. Osprey Games will have it at Salute, and I'll be on hand to sign it if you want. I think I'm scheduled to be on the stand from 11 - 12.

Otherwise, get it from your local gaming store if you can. 

Or you can pick it up, along with a few new miniatures that have produced for it, from North Star. 

Or you can grab it from Amazon.