Under Siege's Top 10 Posts of 2014

A year ago, I did a top ten list of the most popular posts of 2013.  It was very popular and fun to do so, I thought I'd do the same this year.  If you are a new reader or follower to the blog, these lists are a great way to get a feel for the kind of stuff you may find here and, it is also a great way to see what the readers are interested in reading.  If interested in checking out last year's, you can do so HERE. The list that follows is based on the number of hits it has received without advertising any particular Kickstarter (there was one instance where a C&C related Kickstarter was a surprising number of hits and I felt it shouldn't be counted as part of the top ten).

10. Weekend R&R: X-Wing Miniatures

X-Wing Miniatures proved to be a 'dangerous game'.  I had avoided trying and buying into it because I knew I would end up loving it and become hooked.  I regret nothing.  My Rebel and Imperial collection has grown considerably since this review and have thought about joining a league at my FLGS.

09. D&D Next, Higher Costs, and the FLGS

So many people were complaining about the costs of the books of the new editions of D&D when it was announced that I decided to write up this post.  I picked up the books as I knew I would and ended up getting them at 50% off the cover price thanks to Amazon.  Of course, I love supporting my FLGS and don't need much help in dropping a lot of cash when I go there.  ;)

08. Weekend R&R: D&D 5th Edition and C&C

This post was one of the longer ones and I felt it necessitated a 'condensed post' to accompany it in the event that the reader wanted a quick comparison instead of a detailed writeup.  Since then, I have played a lot more 5th Edition and while I like many things and changes it brought about, I ultimately find myself leaning more towards C&C.  This post certainly deserves a follow-up.

07. To Games Workshop... I'm Cashing Out!

This was a fun post to write and a few of my fellow gamers were very supportive of my declaration.  It almost felt like a support group.  I successfully sold most of my GW models save for the handful I decided to keep and recouped a bunch of my investment.  Seeing what they have been up to for the past six months or so, I don't regret it one bit.

06. Weekend R&R: Codex Nordica (C&C)

Most of Troll Lord Games publishing ventures this past year has been done using Kickstarter very successfully.  I was able to review the material based on the PDF which I got an advanced copy of.  I have since gotten my hands on the physical books which included a nice leatherette version.  It is a fantastic book.

05. Skeletons: Painting Guide

I didn't manage to do nearly enough painting as I had hoped to this past year and this was one of the simplest to do.  I hope to do a lot more in 2015.

04. Weekend R&R: Castle Keeper's Guide to the Haunted Highlands

The Haunted Highlands Kickstarter was a pretty fantastic one given what came along with it.  I was happy to back it and, TLG had the wisdom to release the PDFs of this and the Players Guide to backers before it went to print.  A few issues were caught which enabled them to fix the books.  However, one of the last fixes right before the printing caused a problem which forced TLG to issue a map booklet to be included with every copy of this book.  The problem meant that something like 3 or 4 pages ended up blank when they should have included maps.  It was unfortunate since this effectively mars an beautiful 400 page book and I really don't think we'll be seeing a reprint anytime soon.

03. Weekend R&R: Games & Gears Ichiban Studios Pro Line Brushes

Previous backers of the so-called 'Pro Series 7 Brushes' which features dual brush heads with  Kolinsky sable hair had mixed reviews due to what sounded like production issues.  Many users were satisfied with the brushes but others equally unhappy with the quality.  In a follow-up Kickstarter, they partnered with Ichiban Studios to produce a new line of 'professional' brushes.  I was happy to receive them and, on the whole, am still please with the brushes.  I still find them to be GOOD brushes but not perfect -- despite care and cleaning, one of the brushes tends to split at tip as opposed to keeping the point.  It might be a fluke since I have had NO issues with the other brushes.

02. Weekend R&R: Storyteller's Thesaurus

I originally reviewed this almost a year ago and a few months afterwards, TLG launched a Kickstarter to produce a physical copy of the book.  From what I understand, it has (finally) begun to ship.  I look forward to my copy of what is a surprisingly great resource.

01. Tools of the Miniature Painter: .177 Caliber Steel BBs

This post was not only the most popular post of 2014 but it was also the highest read post since Under Siege began a few years back.  There's some good advice in there but in the year that I've been doing these I've experienced a couple of issues in the 10 or so paint pots where these were being used.  To be clear, it took a while and it wasn't all of them but the quality of the BBs being used were not the highest or without some defects.  The coating seems to have eroded away and, depending on the 'integrity' of the steel BB, started to corrode.  The weight makes them ideal but a plastic or glass route might be better in the long run so, painter beware:

From left to right: New BB, BB with no coating, BB which started to corrode.

I will still use BB's but I think I'll have to go with another brand or try and find a higher quality if I need some agitators for long-term use.  However, if this is a pot that is on it's way out, given that that I've only really noticed some problems with a couple of pots several months down the line, even these will do in a pinch.

Thanks for reading!

M

Welcome to 2015!

Happy New Year to all my readers, friends, and family!

2014 for the this Blog and Arcana Creations has been an unusually busy one as a constant battle against time was waged once more.  A couple days ago, James Raggi wrote an inspirational bit about the barriers to entry in the RPG industry: Time and a computer.  I agree and time is on ongoing issue but I don't exactly regret it.

The first half of the year, I've kept busy and posted a bunch on the blog... I did some creative work with the intent of some releases for the Summer or Fall of 2014.  I also had the luxury to do some reading and I've quickly learned that, when I take the time to read I also have the energy to do so as well as engage in creative pursuits -- be it writing, editing, and layout work, or simply painting some miniatures.  The first half of the year also had me clear a bunch of stuff from my gaming collection which went a long way to paying for some of my Gen Con trip -- my first one.

With all that, I kept busy, had fun, and stuff was getting done.  However, between my day job and everything, managing all the sales I was doing up to Gen Con did take away from the writing I was actually doing on the blog.  Some would have thought it would pick up again after wards but it didn't and even the reading I did largely stopped all together after Gen Con.  The gaming material I was selling was halted and work at my 9-5 picked up leaving me drained.  A longstanding commission (paint-wise) was drawn out even more due to time restraints and complexities but at least I was still gaming semi-regularly (about 2-3 times a month).

Ironically, despite not releasing any new product in 2014, Arcana Creations actually made money thanks to its small portfolio available through the OBS services like RPGNow! and by selling off some of the remaining printed modules in stock from past C&C releases that BHP and AC produced.  While the money in question didn't amount to much and only dozens on any given title were sold at best, it was still nice to see some of those titles generating interest.

All other work continues and I've got even more material lined up for eventual release.  The hopeful Fall releases slipped but will be released in due time with a couple more surprises after that.  I'm really hoping that 2015 will be a very good year for Arcana Creations and it's looking to be a very good year (albeit busy) for me -- my wedding and another Gen Con for starters and I do hope to get reading, painting, and writing again.  Well, at least until my schedule gets bogged down as it surely will about 6 months in.  ;)

Of course, I do have about 5 drafts of articles that need finishing up so, as usual, there will be a lot more activity here in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading!

M

Jenga!

Jenga is a great little game and something of a metaphor for my gaming, painting, and publishing ventures.  Oh... and this blog too come to think of it.  I diligently get started and build it up and, invariably, stuff happens and everything collapses. The thing is, Jenga is fun and like everything else I mentioned here, I keep doing it because I want to. It's easy to get into the habit of doing things but somehow it's just as easy to get caught up with something else and which causes good habits and practices to slip.

My last post was over six weeks ago and I ended off with a note that I still had a bunch of stuff to get done before the end of the year.  Somehow, I still have a lot of THOSE things left to do but things have actually been moving forward once more.  So, what have I been up to in my hours outside of my regular 9-5 gig?

I'm excited to say that I've been helping John Adams at Brave Halfling Publishing with what some people view as a disastrous Kickstarter.  This is a real shame.  He's no thief or conman as some of his detractors would have you believe.  He's a good guy who had all the right intentions but, as the saying goes, the roads are paved with them.  I count John as a good friend but many problems turned a very positive campaign experience into a sour one for many backers.  He's made mistakes and the biggest ones were underestimating the work load required to get this done while mainly doing it alone.  As a backer myself, I haven't seen much beyond the first set of releases (I write about the HERE) but, once I had them in hand, I was pleased at the final quality of the product.  As for the help I have been providing, it's mainly editing and layout work.  A few weeks ago, I was provided with an Appendix N scenario by Michael Curtis which I understand is destined to get into the hands of backers which has been turned in at the start of the month.  I am working on another longer Appendix N scenario but can't really go into the details for that.  It is my understanding that it's the last one that needs editing and layout work done though and I hope with this one out of the way, whatever is missing or outstanding all gets consolidated and settled once and for all.  The last time we spoke, he also mentioned something about the boxes and I think this will also please backers once everything that needs to go out, goes out.

That said, I've really enjoyed doing the little bit of layout and editing work for the DCC material that Brave Halfling has put together.  If anything can be learned from this experience, doing all this stuff alone was a mistake.  It's a mistake that John has made a few times and one I've made myself in trying to get stuff out.  This is why we have committed to help each other out a lot more in the immediate future.

As far as my painting projects are concerned -- I have been working on and off on a pain-in-the-ass commission to do a custom paint job on Primus Cybertron.

I hate it and frankly it kills a lot of my motivation to paint.  I'm doing it as a favor and basically, the money I'm getting for the project pays for materials and nothing more.  I have already spent countless of hours in previous months working on this cursed thing.  I needed a huge break and so, I'm happily painting again.  I've started a project which will end up being a X-Mas present to my niece.  It's a Unicorn and Ranger diorama that I'm making on a 40mm base.  I'll be doing a painting guide for it in the coming days (only 10 days till Christmas after all!).

And finally, I've gotten my latest / newest Castles & Crusades printings of the Players Handbook and Monsters & Treasure book.  They do look quite nice in their leatherette covers and look even better when you start flipping through the pages. There will be another attempt to get a game going though, it might also be Call of Cthulhu that might be explored in 2015.  The idea was presented for me to run another small fantasy campaign but before I could get too excited, I learned that the players in question wanted to give 5th Edition a try.  Not the the kind of thing I was hoping for with the new C&C books in hand.

All fine games though -- each with respective strengths and weaknesses.  Well, that's it for tonight.  I will leave by mentioning two kickstarters that deserve a mention with a proven track record for delivery,

The first is another Kickstarter by Troll Lord Games for their campaign setting.  It has already smashed the basic funding goals and with three weeks to go, plenty of time to get more goals met including a the color ones.  It's a solid setting that I grew to love since I first came across it.  The main book (Codex), is also stat-less and a great consideration if C&C just isn't your cup of tea.

You can check it out HERE.

The other Kickstarter of note is the second issue of Heroic by Zenith Comics.  The first one was published and has made it into the hands of backers.  It's a great superhero story and even pledging a $1 will get you a digital copy of issue 1.  If you like it, you can upgrade your pledge to get issue 2 ... or even a physical copy of the first issue to accompany the second issue.  If signed copies are your thing, that too can be done.  It's a great comic and the initial story is to be spread out in a six-issue story arc.  Having funded and successfully delivered issue 1, the process for the second issue is well-in-hand and much less of a risk for those of us who got burned on other Kickstarter projects.

If this looks interesting, you best hurry, as there are 6 days left and $2400 is still needed for this to fund.  You can check it out HERE.

M

October Over Already?

In one way, there isn't much to post about but depending on how you look at it, there is plenty to post about.  I've suspended my gaming campaign for a few months now and I've seldom have had a time to do some more painting.  My campaign was put on hold since the beginning of April and things have been steadily busy since.  I went to GenCon and the Montreal ComicCon and both of those events where a bit less than a month apart!  Thankfully, I have still been gaming the past few months and I'm currently playing in a D&D 5th Edition game which has been keeping that gaming itch at bay along with the occasional X-Wing Miniatures game.


October however was to be a return to the head of my gaming table as I agreed to run a session for a few friends.  One was a good friend in a much older campaign I ran when I lived in Ottawa; he came in for the weekend to spend time with us and play in a new campaign.  Another was someone who I introduced to the game and plays a character in the previous campaign I ran.  I had never played with the other two players and one of them had never played in a pen and paper RPG before either.  Normally, this wouldn't have been an issue and things started off great.  I was in fine form and all players were engaged and excited.  Since we had a couple of new players, we took the time to create characters and I put them through a tough encounter for the benefit of learning some of the mechanics of the game and combat (playing Castles & Crusades).

While the game got off to a great start, disaster soon followed.

I won't go into the exact details of what happened save to say that substances such as alcohol were involved.  Don't get me wrong -- I enjoy a nice drink now and then, and will frequently enjoy one when I am running a game at my home.  I allow my regular players the same courtesy.  Unfortunately, this wasn't my regular group and a line, or rather a limit (in terms of consumption), was crossed.  When that happened, the game and my attempts to tell a tale fell flat.

Overall, we still had a good time but it wasn't what any of us had planned.  Fortunately, none of us were completely strangers so the evening wasn't exactly a waste.  I will chalk this one up to another 'lesson learned' and see if we can attempt again the game that was originally planned.

My weekend wasn't all 'gloom' though and perhaps there was another reason why there was so much celebrating this past weekend -- my official engagement to my significant other.  I proposed the evening prior to the game and she accepted.

This means that I will continue being busy for the next few months as things are shaping up for a July wedding -- right before GenCon.  Both of us are looking to go back this year and we look forward to it.

That said, I do need to get back to some overdue projects and my writing.  I still have a bunch of things to finish up before the year is through and with just a couple of months left, there is a LOT that needs to be done.

M

When Gremlins Attack: 5th Edition's Monster Manual

Well, I think the Gremlins have had enough of being excluded in any official D&D product.  The last time I saw these critters in prints was back in 2nd Edition AD&D.  Like many creatures initially, they were nowhere to be found in 3rd Edition and I doubt they were in 4th Edition.  Necromancer Games gave us the Gremlin in their Tome of Horrors books (don't ask me which one) which may have appeased these mischievous spirits but NO MORE.  I think not being put in the 5th Edition Monster Manual when the Flumph had was the last straw.

Today I received my second Monster Manual from Amazon.  You see, there was a glue problems (as in excessive) that resulting in a few pages being stuck together.  Not a huge deal I suppose but two pages in particular refused to be separated and, upon examination, a good chuck of the corner of one the two pages was missing (torn off).  Being somewhat 'book proud', I decided to try out the return and exchange feature which Amazon provides...

Wait... what?  Yes.  I bought these off Amazon.  I really do like supporting my local game store and often do.  I can't begin to calculate how much I have spent at the store over the years but at $58.00 a book (plus taxes), that 50% off offer from Amazon was hard to pass up.  While I like 5th Edition, it is unlikely that I will ever run a game.  I will play and I am happy that WOTC went the direction they did with the rules but Castles & Crusades meets my needs quite nicely.  At almost $60 per book for something I may consult or use only once in a while, I don't feel guilty about getting the best bang for my buck.

At any rate, the first book came promptly and I received it last Wednesday.  I put in the order for an exchange that same night and it shipped at the end of the week.  I arrive home to find the package and what could best be described as a printing disaster.

Frankly I don't know how this got through.  I figure with the quantities they were mass printing that errors can happen.  However, product control seems to be UTTER CRAP.  I can understand the little hiccup with the first copy I received.  The second was completely unwarranted in my opinion.  I tried to capture the glory of the disaster.  Forgive the bad lighting:

Now, the thing is the gutter near the top of all these pages at the start of the book is uncut and the pages are not separated.  The pages were misaligned when it was assembled.  The bottom of these pages are cut well beyond where they were supposed to be cut -- almost cutting the bottom page numbers so were talking at least a good 1/4 inch off.  Pages in the back of the book suffer similar problems.  Not visible in these pictures are the terrible paste job on the black sheet to the cover -- off center and crooked.

So... I go back to Amazon and because this is the second time this happens to me with this specific book, they will not automatically exchange this.  They present to me two options:

Either I accept a full Refund and I keep it and get refunded 30% back of the purchase price.

I'm not happy about this.  I suppose I could have gotten the refund and then turn around and try ordering it again (because $29 plus taxes is way better than $58 plus taxes).  Fortunately, I hadn't had a chance to return my first defective copy.  It's not a perfect solution but, what the hell.  I am returning the second copy and holding the first.  A defective copy is a defective copy and in both cases, it was a manufacturing issue.  With a hobby knife, I separate the two pages and survey the actual 'unseen' damage.  The good news is that no text or art was actually harmed.  Unfortunately, there is still some stickiness to the glue that didn't already screw up the page.  And there is that tear.  I take a good look and decide where I am going to make my 'cuts'.  I take some scissors and completely cut out the corner from two pages -- a clean 45 degree angel removing the torn part and excess glue.  It looks kind of weird but in some ways, since the art and text were not touched, I'll count myself lucky.  Even more fortunate?  They refunded me 50% and not 30%.

$14.70 for the new Monster Manual with a couple of page corners cut out?  I guess I can live with that...

M