TRUE-TrueScale Bolt Pistol Prop

Just because it's fun, here's a step-by-step build log for a scratch-built Bolt Pistol, from one of my favorite prop makers, Volpin Props.

The weight is off, but as for the size, I believe for a Bolt Pistol this is about as properly real-life true scale as you can get.

Behind the Curtain...Blade Runner Prop Shop

I've always loved movie prop making - especially on the miniature scale. It makes a lot of sense considering my love of miniature gaming, as the techniques and methods of production for both go largely hand-in-hand. If I had known more about the field when I was younger, I would have explored the world of movie prop making as a career as an alternative to writing.

There is an interesting article on io9 that I'm linking here that shows a massive number of behind the scenes photos of the miniature prop making production from Blade Runner. It's well worth a look for some classic sci-fi inspiration.

Necromunda Novels

Looks like Black Library is bringing the Necromunda novels to ebook format.

I wonder if this is a matter of BL just digitizing more of their archived books, or if GW is stoking the fires for an upcoming games release?

Probably the former.

Blood Bowl - Beast of Nurgle

Blood Bowl is one of my all-time favorite games.

Although I rarely get to play it, it’s a game that I constantly return to whenever I get the urge to convert or paint something new and different simply for the joy of it.

Blood Bowl is one of those “love it, or leave it” kind of games, with very little middle ground in-between. Part skirmish game, part board game; it’s a tough sell to new players for a number of reasons—an overwhelmingly rabid fanatical fan base, a steep learning curve on strategies and mechanics that are highly situational, and the lack of support by the game’s parent company…there’s a lot going against the game. If it wasn’t for the support of the fans, players, and third party manufacturers, Blood Bowl probably would have died off years ago.

It also doesn’t help the casual newcomer that the game is so strongly tied to the painting and modeling hobby. Converting your team is by no means absolutely necessary, but in most settings painting is either strongly encouraged (leagues) or required (tournaments), and a majority portion of Blood Bowl players are accomplished hobbyists, who take great pride in creating custom teams with custom themes.

I’ve personally never been much of one to heavily theme my own teams, but painting and converting my figures are at the top of my list when it comes to Blood Bowl. In fact, I won’t field a team unless it’s complete and painted.

The last game I played had the dual distinction of also being the least enjoyable—not because I played poorly (I didn’t), or because the dice didn’t go my way (pretty average rolling), but because my opponent brought an unpainted, unprimed, bare metal team to the field, made up of figures whose sculpts I was unfamiliar with, and thus couldn’t tell which positionals were which (I suspect he had trouble with that determination himself, since, when I had to constantly ask, “Which player in this dog pile has guard?”, the piece in question seemed to move around a lot, even though our teams were in a standstill on the pitch). That game ended in a draw, btw. 

The fact that this was league play, and he had played the team enough to skill a number of his players up meant that he should have had enough time to paint his team—and in Blood Bowl especially, even two colors on a figure is just basic respect for your fellow coaches.

So, I always paint my teams before I field them. Simple as that.

One of my longtime Blood Bowl obsessions has been to create a Nurgle team. I can’t explain why, but I’ve always had an obsession with Nurgle going back to my early days of WFB, Rogue Trader, and Realm of Chaos. Don’t know why—I’ve just always thought Nurgle was cool.

Nurgle teams are probably one of the hardest teams to get good miniatures for. GW made a team long ago, but they aren’t the best figures (in my opinion). Taking into account that you have four character types on the team to deal with (Beast, Nurgle Warrior, Pestigor, and Rotters), and the fact that they all have the potential to be rotten, diseased, and heavily mutated, there’s a lot of variability in how to present them, and what miniatures to get—most coaches will go to other miniature ranges and do heavy conversions to create their teams.

I have a general plan to kitbash the majority of my own team, but I thought I’d jump into the extreme deep end of the project, and scratch-build my own unique Beast of Nurgle.

It was a very long on-again-off-again process of sculpting him from a Sculpey core, covered and detailed in greenstuff. The fungal growths on his back are plastic tubing with the edges burnt so they melted and curled back onto themselves.

The Beast is a big fella, and would take up too much room on the pitch if I had to place him on his side, so for the Prone and Stunned conditions I made a “P” and an “S” icon that can be inserted into one of the barnacles on his shoulder-hump. Likewise, the Really Stupid condition has a “?” icon that can be put on him to show his status.

The Beast was my first serious attempt at sculpting a figure from scratch, and I’m pretty happy with him overall. There might be a few things I would change if I were to do it again, but I’m ready to move on to the rest of the team.

BeinArt Collective

I don't really know how to describe the varied group of artists at the BeinArt Collective, or the glorious range of the bizarre and horrific works they have there - it's really something you have to see for yourself.

If you can't find inspiration somewhere on their site, you aren't really trying.

Caution - many of the pieces are NSFW.

Pinhole Cameras

Wayne Martin Belger, at Boy of Blue Industries, and his amazing pinhole cameras.

The simplicity of the pinhole camera is elevated by the careful construction of special cameras, specifically designed for the particular project, taking into account materials and design to match the atmosphere and aesthetics of the subject matter.

I've been aware of Belger's work and unique cameras for a while now, and they never fail to amaze me. It's well worth checking out the link at the top to read about the background of the individual cameras and photo shoots.