My mini painting tray is possibly more badass than yours.

Some time ago, I saw an ad for a very handy looking miniature painting tray in an issue of White Dwarf, and got the brilliant idea to make one of my own out of one of the old ammo boxes in my garage.

Yes, I said ammo boxes in my garage. My in-laws used to have a gun store, and a business that sold ammunition at gun shows. A lot of the military grade ammunition comes in very sturdy containers, very often wooden boxes. Some of the deeper crates make great boxes for RPG books, and as it turns out, the shallow ones can be turned into very badass painting trays.

I lost my original tray in our house fire, but was able to grab an empty crate from the garage before we left for good. And since I recently got the initiative to start painting my Reaper Bones, I figured this would be the perfect time to put a new one together.

Experiencing a little painting tray envy? Thinking you’d like to have one of your very own? Check your local gun stores or surplus shops to see if they have any empty wooden ammo crates. Our store had so many lying around that we usually just gave them away to anyone who wanted one. To make this one, I just pulled the screws out of the bottom of one of the long sides, carefully tapped the side out, and nailed it to the top of the opposite side for a shelf. Some other crates I’ve seen do not have the dovetailed sides, so you may need to get a saw involved – and sanding all exposed surfaces is probably a good idea to avoid unwanted splinters.

The handles on the side make it easy to cart around when the family wants me to surrender the dining room table for dining or some other such nonsense. My old one had a small clamp lamp on the side, so I’m on the hunt for a replacement, as well as something to keep my brushes and files from rolling around.

And there you have it, my utterly badass painting tray, which is possibly more badass than yours. But, y’know, that’s really just a matter of opinion and stuff.

 

A Quixotic Moment – Some damned fine miniature work

Hey guys – sorry to be gone for so long – as you know, I’ve got a non-RPG related project that I’ve been plugging away at, and I’ve also been working on trying to find us a new place to live (yes, still) – so free time is a bit sparse at the present time.

I did spot this thing of absolute beauty today, however, and had to share it. Mark from Creative Mountain Games shared it on his Facebook wall, and I was compelled to share it here. I’d like to give credit where it’s due, but the Facebook page where the image came from didn’t give any information on it, and a Google Image Search based on the text at the bottom didn’t yield any helpful results.

If anyone knows the artist’s name and maybe even some contact information, please let me know. Until then, we’ll just have to enjoy his or her work on its own.

 

1d12 Days of Christmas, Day 5 – Nick, the Mall Santa!

Here’s another Christmas freebie from DTRPG. It’s Nick the Mall Santa, a bonus character for the Survival Horror board game that includes a printable figure that can be used with any modern horror, espionage, or crime RPG. Print him out, put him together, and let him sort out the naughty and the nice!

Get your Mad as Hell Mall Santa at DriveThruRPG.

 

1d12 Days of Christmas, Day 1 – SNOWBALL WARS!

It’s that time of year again, kids! Time for a completely random number of holiday-themed Quixotist blog posts!

First up is SNOWBALL WARS, a print-and-play boardgame for 2-3 players (with an expansion that can allow up to 4 players).To play you’ll need a color printer, cardstock some glue sticks, scissors and a hobby knife to cut out the pieces, and some six sided dice (some foamcore board to mount the game boards and bases on is optional but recommended, and can be found at your local dollar store).

It’s a fast and furious snow battle between warring factions of kids, and a great intro to wargames for any budding gamers in your household. It includes rules for morale, indirect fire, critical hits and fumbles, Wild Cards that are drawn and applied when two opponents roll the same number, plus several optional rules (including ZOMBIE SNOW MEN!), six missions, and a solo variant.

Best of all, you can print as many copies of the board and terrain as you wish, making the play area as large and cluttered as you wish!

The rules are well-written and very clear, and the art on the pieces is excellent. You get all of this for the paltry sum of $5 at DriveThruRPG – though there is the other cost of time spent cutting and preparing the pieces, which does take a while. Don’t expect to play this one right away. You’ll want to prepare everything a few days in advance, especially since sharp objects are involved and you really don’t want to rush it.

As I began writing this, I discovered an expansion for Snowball Wars – Elf Help, which adds elves (a band that can be controlled by a player or used as a random nuisance), presents (grab them for a bonus!) and a Snow Beast (who carries kids off and removes them from the game!). A whole lot of additional fun for a mere dollar.

If you’re looking for some fast-paced wargaming fun, possibly even something non-violent that you can play with the whole family, you can’t go wrong with Snowball Wars.

 

Maximum minis – the Reaper Bones Kickstarter

With less than nine days left, I just made a pledge to the Reaper Bones Kickstarter project, which is aimed at covering the costs for releasing new minis in their Bones line. They’re great looking plastic minis at reasonable prices, and at the $100 level, you get 117+ minis (potentially more if future stretch goals are reached). The best part of all is that the initial goal was destroyed long ago, so you don’t have to worry about the project not getting funding!

I’m thinking it’s a fairly inexpensive way to start a new collection of minis to replace the ones I lost in the fire. For you, it may be a great way to vastly expand your own collection on the cheap, and there are a bunch of options that you can add to your reward (extra minis, paints, figure cases, and more). If you’re interested in mini gaming at all, this is definitely worth a look – but do it quickly, there’s just a little more than a week left!

P.S. Oh yeah, a link to the Kickstarter would probably help, huh…?

 

Nastier than a gazebo, any day…

Well well well, whaddaya know… it’s a papercraft windmill kit from Fat Dragon Games. Now all I need are some mounted Don and Sancho minis to take this sucker down.

It’s a nasty lookin’ cuss, too. Wonder how many hit points it has…?