fullborer

looks like Puppet Lucius goes to Demonn Agram (and was shipped out today). Thanks everyone! :1_Happy_Puppet1:

funny thing. I converted a Dragon Lords fleet last summer/fall. Spent way too much time on it (because I can't leave well enough alone) and then realized/decided I'd rather spend my limited gaming time on Puppet Wars and sold the fleet this spring.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. personally, I think the 30 minute estimate is quite low and very skewed by some games actually taking LESS than that. if someone (like me, for example) makes a serious tactical mistake you can be eliminated almost immediately. Heck, I've been playing since last year when the game came out and I underestimated LaFemmeGeekita (who has also been playing since the beginning) and she killed me in 7 activations! On the other hand, we played a 4-player match just yesterday that went over three hours. One player was comparatively new, but the others have been in since the start last summer. (PS: the newest player won!) so it can be a little hard to accurately estimate the time a game of Puppet Wars is going to take, but if you're enjoying it - and our group still is, a year in - its all good. :1_Happy_Puppet1:

I had a little trouble finding my way to the trading section of the forum myself, so I thought it might be worth posting over here in Puppet-ville that I'm forum-auctioning a Lucius Puppet this week. Now. Here - http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?32259-Puppet-Wars-Lucius-auction

Thanks to Battle Foam’s generous sponsorship of Adepticon I find myself with and extra Puppet Lucius and thought I’d take a page from Cadilon and try a forum auction (I’m even using his post as template – thanks). Auction Item: Puppet Wars Lucius w/Card Description: This is an auction for a Puppet Wars Lucius, including the base and game card. This is the mini you can get packaged with the Puppet Wars bag from Battle Foam – but it’s just the mini, not the bag. It’s new and unpainted. Auction Starts: Now Auction Ends: Wednesday, June 20th, 2012, 10:00pm EST (-5 hours GMT) Starting Bid: $1.00 (no reserve) Payment Method: Paypal Shipping: $5.00 flat rate shipping anywhere in the world. That gets you Priority shipping in the US, First Class International shipping anywhere else. It will be packed in a small cardboard box so the game card doesn’t get all chewed up in the post. Terms: To bid, reply to this post with your bid amount. Bids edited after initial posting are void. If you are out-bid or wish to bid again, reply again. Bids will not be accepted by Private Message. The winning big will be the highest bid with a timestamp no later than 9:00:00pm EST on the 20th. If two posters manage to have the same bid and the same timestamp, the first one displayed in the thread will be the winner. The item will be shipped within two business days of the PayPal payment clearing. I’ve sold lots of minis on eBay over the years - http://myworld.ebay.com/loonborer - my feedback score is over 550 and entirely positive; but I figured I’d try something a little different for this very niche mini… Let me know if you have any questions, thanks! :1_Happy_Puppet1:

Heh. I'm such a scamp! :1_Happy_Puppet1: also - Bring it! What are you going to do?! eliminate me in LESS than 7 activations?! ---------- Post added at 02:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:14 PM ---------- Low Puppet on the Totem Pole… Or “I thought you’d played this game before?” Whew, so that’s Adepticon #10 in the can and I’m still tired. As Tauwolf observed, Sunday events at Adepticon tend to suffer from the fact that people can (and often do) play games almost constantly for the preceding 2, sometimes 2.5 days. By Sunday morning a lot of people just think “What’d I pay for that event? Feh. I’d rather sleep in and have waffles.” Many thanks to Nilus and Shadowopal for working all weekend, hanging in there, and running PW despite the low attendance. (I covet that PW banner, Nilus) I sincerely hope the low turnout isn’t going to put a damper on future years. And certainly not because I’m about to burst my stitches with plaque-envy (I’m looking at you, Tauwolf). I have my shiny button eye on that Master Tailor next year. (so I’d better start painting next week). Since we only had 4 people (and one a new conscript), it was a very low key event – which was exactly what I needed, frankly. After obsessing over the organization of Adepticon’s hobby seminars for the last several months, Puppet Wars turned out to be just the gaming panacea I needed. That said; I completely dropped the ball in PW prep. :1_Exhausted_Puppet: I ended up borrowing Tauwolf’s freshly painted Marcus and knowing I wasn’t going to finish my crew, I had a local commission painter Brian “Top Flighte” Burchett knock out seven teddies for me. Add in my Grateful Teddy and I’d have quite the Teddy Bear Picnic. With no experience using that Toy Box, it was likely to result in a series of heavy-handed beatings [edit: correct!], but it sounded fun. When I get a chance, I’ll photo the bears – he did a really good job, especially for the time/cost involved. My first game was against Tauwolf. He killed me slowly, as he is wont to do, eliminating bear after bear until Marcus finally went down. I got a little experience upgrading my bears with heart-patches, but I don’t think I ever really threatened him. My second game was against Hijynx’s wife who I know a bit from the local store. Tauwolf and LFG had only just introduced her to the game that weekend so as I was learning my crew and she was learning in general, it was a pretty light game. Like LFG, I pointed out a few things I was doing that she might want to watch out for and it was all very relaxed. I ended up “winning” the game, but it was truly an accident. The right bear was in the right place with the attachments and the right cards in my hand and I was able to power through a bodyguard and devour Lady J with the double-tome Swallow Whole Action. The teddies certainly have potential, but my “win” was only as intentional as accidents get. My last game was with LFG, who I don’t think I’ve ever played 1-on-1 against before. I had no idea what it would be like to be the sole focus of her cheerful, puppish wrath. I kid you not, she eliminated me in 7 activations! “Tra la la, I have teddies, tra la la – ARGH, I’m dead!” I suppose that’s what you get when you play a crew for the third time ever against a puppette master assassin like LFG. I thought I sort of saw her attack forming, but in trying to avoid threats 1, 2, and 3; I was eliminated by threat 4 which was a direct result of my own foolishness. feh. Perhaps I’ll play better tonight. Perhaps. All in all, it was a good event for me and like I said, just the soothing positive-gaming experience I needed that day. With eight teddies painted and ready, I’ll definitely be trying a few more most- or all-Teddy Shoe Boxes in the future. :1_Happy_Puppet1:

@ Nilus - you won't be the first or last person painting at the 'con. But I learned my lesson a couple years back. that really doesn't work for me. @ Karn - weirdly, Puppet Wars doesn't seem to be generating the grudginess I just naturally accumulate in every other aspect of life. hmm. @ LaFemmeGeekita - "Malifaux rat might taste like pumpkin pie, but I'll never know because I wouldn't eat the filthy <mumble-mumble>." :1_Happy_Puppet1:

"Did you see a sign in front of my workbench that says 'Dead Puppet Storage'?!" Awesome. :1_Happy_Puppet1:

Greetings Puppets and Puppettes! With a few games under my belt (and my Adepticon shoebox undecided) I began to feel like I could really use a second Sidekick in my shoebox. It’s not that Joss wasn’t pulling his weight - he totally does - but I figured a little branching out wouldn’t hurt. I’m OK with out-of-suit Pawns, but I’m less sanguine about out-of-suit Sidekicks; which left me with Misaki, Rusty Alyce and the Hooded Rider. Tauwolf and LaFemmeGeekita both make pretty regular use of the Hooded Rider, and DaveyP painted a fantastic version of that puppet, so… Game-wise: There are a lot of dangerous puppets out there - Puppet Wars is an adorably brutal game at times - but I’d put Rusty Alyce up there with almost any of them. I originally drafted her because there’s only one Tomes Sidekick at present and I’m not wild about Misaki’s discard-to-activate-or-commit-puppet-seppuku activation cost. I’ve only used Alyce thrice now, but this little puppette has a lot of potential. Our last game (on Tauwolf’s enbigulated new board) had her getting so much attention that she literally make a ¾ circuit of the board, tearing apart puppets as she went. I lost eventually (overextended and teamed up on), but it was fun. Conversion-wise: I’m not sure what I was thinking. I took a saw to her right leg and mechanical arm to do a little re-pose, but ended up putting her back together almost exactly the same way she was! She might gotten a slight shift of weight onto that leg, and her big-ol’ arm might be a little touched up, but ultimately, the changes are exceedingly minor for the time and effort. Her other side got a more obvious result from the saw – the gun arm came off, was pinned back in a different position and cleaned up with putty. Reinforcing my inability to leave well enough alone, I added a magnet to her gun and wired it to a battery-fanny-pack on her belt. Maybe the magnet shoots off her gun like a taser and the coiled wire drags her over to the metal-puppet target? Maybe not. It doesn’t have to make too much sense – she’s a puppet after all. [shameless self-promotion] It hit me last week that Alyce’s conversion might have been a subconscious result of this model (sculpted last year and tweaked into production last month). Their poses do bear a slight resemblance... All in all, this puppet’s conversion ended up taking a LOT more time than I’d expected and I’m a little irritated with myself over the skirt/leg thing, but I do like how she looks and it will be fun to paint her tattered skirt in some kind of plaid (exact tartan TBD). But given the amount of time I’ve taken on conversions (ie: even more than I’d expected/planned), my next progress post will be a real game-changer. Even I didn’t see this one coming. I should have, but I didn’t. My learning curve remains flat as a board. :1_Happy_Puppet1:

I just noticed the Witchling Stalker's info on the Puppet Wars website lists him as having two Abilities, while the card says Actions. Based on the listed items (one being a :fast) I'm guessing the card is right and the site has a typo?

Greetings Puppets and Puppettes! Wow, time flies. Its T-55 days until Adepticon I have a crapload of things still to do, but that’s cool. If not for deadlines, I’d never finish anything. I suppose its crunch time. Today’s post may well be my favorite conversion of the crew (so far), but its a lot of work for such a minor pawn, even by my standards. nevertheless, I really like the results. We’ll see if you agree. Game-wise: As you may know, I’m focusing on my Marcus crew, so a Witchling Stalker is a bit of an odd choice. I’d argue that a puppet that can refresh and stitch up your other puppets is valuable to anyone, especially when combined with Marcus’s “Everybody Share!” fast Action that shuffles Rips around – give one puppet a rip to stitch up some-puppet else. Then the Witchling can stitch up the injury safely in the backfield (if needed). At least that’s the theory. Seems to be working OK. Conversion-wise: This one’s all theme for me. The Witchling has two Abilities – “filled with coffee beans” and “trust me, I’m a doctor” - more than enough to work with. maybe too much. He got all the standard little tweaks, like cleaned up cloth and stitches where the casting was a little suboptimal and getting one button eye (crew theme). I added a bit more to his hood - pulling it down over his eyes and giving me an impression of pseudo-eyebrows. And naturally, he's on one of my planky bases (you can check the site in my sig if you're interested in getting some of your very own). The first big thing I did was get out my saw and remove that huge butcher’s knife from his back. It definitely matches the art and Malifaux version well, but isn't as medically-themed as I wanted (since he’s a “doctor”). So I filed a strip of ABS plastic into the shape of a scapel and tied that to his back with a bit of sculpted twine (the chains also fell victim to the saw). Since he’s full of coffee beans, I fabricated a tiny cappuccino cup and saucer from plastic tube, ABS sheet, and putty. Naturally, I had to cut off his right arm and rebuild that to hold the little saucer. Putty replaced the cowl that covers that shoulder and obviously, I had to add a hospital name badge to his cowl. It ought to be just big enough to paint “Joe” on it… In addition to being old-timey slang for coffee – "Joe" is also the name of one of the most highly caffeinated artists I know, and my first green-putty sculpting instructor. You can check out some of his varied works here. So I present Dr. Joe, Witchling Barista. Stay tuned next time for a high-effort/low-payoff conversion that will make you wonder how I ever get anything done… I guess that could be said for a lot of things I convert... :1_Happy_Puppet1:

I really like this model, and the paint job just enhances that. but of course, I have a few notes - err - "opinions"... (I may have even more when I see it in person) it's a really tiny model, so I think there could be a little more difference in tone between the skin and the hair. IIRC the Malifaux ronin this is based on has dark skin in on the card, but I think a little light layering/highlight would go a long way. I'd probably put a few tiny "outline" highlights on the edges of things like the collar, the cuffs, the trailing edge of the coat, that sort of thing - it should auto-magically make the shadows seem deeper by comparison and define the shape of the coat in the process. maybe add a dab of spot-color to the googles? I'm thinking mid-green for color contrast, but not so much that i detracts from her actual eyes. as for the base, well... that's just brilliant! (obviously I'm biased there) :1_Happy_Puppet1:

thanks - I did seriously consider making a special base with the planks partially torn up - like he was burrowing up through the floor - but decided to save that for Moleman #2. it will differentiate them nicely I think... :1_Happy_Puppet1:

thanks everyone, that was a lot of fun to write. and thanks to Lalochezia for the contest and prize support. I'm not sure where the anti-hat sentiment came in, but it definitely became a thing. i just ran (scampered) with it. anyway, this was sufficient fun that I'm planning to make a few notes the next time around and see if I can make another of these. perhaps a more developed report for Adepticon...

Greetings Puppets and Puppettes! It’s been a freakishly busy month, but I’ve managed to finish about 2.5 more puppet conversions for my Adepticon shoe box. That's well over half and I'm into the home stretch, conversion-wise. Game-wise, Hans the Mechanical Moleman is pretty much a no-brainer choice IMO, especially with Marcus. A low activation number and a fantastic set of bonuses for hanging out on/in an impassible hex? Yes, please. You could make a decent argument for bringing two Molemen (but I only have the one mini). Truly, the only time I don’t have him on an impassible hex is when I’m en route to an impassible hex (or to a different impassible hex). Heck, little Hans here came within one card flip of taking Tauwolf completely out of our last game in the second turn. Mostly that was Tauwolf not paying attention (LaFemmeGeekita is distracting), but had he not flipped a low enough card to activate a Teddy before Hans could go, well, he’d have lost even sooner! heh… I’d rank this conversion as “minor”, but Hans had very little work done as I really, really like this little guy. I cut off part of his base to make him stand up straighter, gave him a button eye (like everyone else) and added some different hoses to his back. I’m fairly sure I mentioned these before, but the Dragon Forge cast-metal guitar strings are just so darn useful. Lastly, I swapped his non-dominant drill arm for a weird (not Wyrd) saw from my extensive bitz box and cleaned up the joins with a bit of putty. Stay tuned for the next episode where I convert something a bit more extensively. I’m not going to guarantee you’ll like the results, but I’m sufficiently pleased with myself not to care what you think. So there. PS: stupid hat!

posted! A Narrative Puppet Battle Report - Marcus v. Seamus... :happypuppet1

greetings Puppets and Puppettes, I wrote most of this batrep-story in my head while shoveling the driveway this week and LaFemmeGeekita’s own battle report entry inspired me to finish it up and post it. The battle itself is a couple weeks old, my latest one-on-one scuffle with Tauwolf (until later today) and we played it on a board layout of his design – which you can see here. If it was intended to be quick and brutal, well… mission accomplished. . . . . . Marcus’s arm was on fire again. No matter how he smothered it or dunked it in water, it never stayed out very long. It just kept bursting into blue flame. Sometimes Mistress would use his burny arm to light the fire under her cauldron or set him beside her as she read. He liked that, but fire was still scary. Most puppets didn’t want to play with him when he was burning like that. He hit the fire with his staff. That hurt his hand a little, and blackened a leaf on his stick, but one couldn’t be on fire all the time. It wasn’t proper puppish behavior. He hit the fire until it went out and looked around the shack to see who else was up and might want to play today. That’s when he saw it - OOO - he saw it! A firecracker almost as big as he was, tucked between two workbenches in the middle of the one-room shanty. It was shiny, and stripy, and just stuffed with potential. He had to get it! Marcus was about to hop off his workbench to do just that when he saw Seamus. The other puppet was directly opposite him, on a bench of his own, wearing that stupid hat and clearly looking at his ‘cracker. Marcus growled. His puppet friends perked up. But Seamus’s friends were already moving; a Ronin with purple yarn tresses scampering well in the lead. They raced toward the center of the room and the shiny, stripy prize. Joss clomped forward in angry hops. Mostly Joss was angry. Mostly. Or sleeping. But mostly angry. He clashed his axe-hands together and a sparkling bolt of Joss-colored energy hit the impetuous Ronin, ripping her to shreds. ‘Maybe she’ll play with us next time instead of stupid-hat Seamus.’ Marcus thought as he scratched Rosebud behind the ears. The Guild Hound chomped her teeth eagerly. At a wave from Marcus's staff, Frosty the Ice Golem rolled forward at an impressive clip, outpacing even the hopping-mad Joss. Marcus thought he might get to the ‘cracker before Seamus’s friends. He couldn’t tell for sure though; Frosty was tall and blocking his view. Maybe if he took off that hat, Marcus would be able to see. Come to think of it, Frosty’s hat looked suspiciously like Seamus’s. Maybe not quite as stupid, but still very… hatty. And at least a little stupid. Marcus growled again and his arm burst into flame. Again. His remaining button eye narrowed. Stupid hat twins. Oblivious to Marcus’s growing ire, Frosty rolled over the nearer workbench and right up the ‘cracker. He picked it up. It was shiny, and stripy, and just stuffed with potential. Marcus would love it. Maybe he’d stop trying to melt Frosty with that crazy burning arm. That just wasn’t proper puppish behavior. The Ice Golem turned back and saw that Marcus was on fire again. That wasn’t good. Maybe he’d just roll over this way a bit until Marcus settled down. Marcus’s button eye widened again. Where was Frosty going?! Straight toward Seamus?! Marcus decided he would certainly give him a thumpity thump thump as he looked at that Frosty go. It was some kind of stupid hat conspiracy! Seamus was going to pay for this, and Frosty, and any other puppet with a hat! His button-gaze fell suspiciously on the Death Marshall and his equally suspicious hat. For his part, the Death Marshall chose that moment to look with great intensity for something in his pine lunch box. Frosty could see from here that Marcus wasn’t happy. Rolling away was probably a good idea. Or it might have been if a trio of Seamus’s little puppet friends hadn’t been waiting for him on the far side of the central workbenches. A Teddy, a Belle and Baby Kade surrounded him in an intimidating and unfriendly sort of way, eying the ‘cracker. They grabbed for the prize in a scuffle of stuffing and snow and great deal of little Kade’s not-at-all-little knife. The kid needed to be careful with that thing or he’d put someone’s eye out! Just as that thought went through Frosty’s head, so did the knife. The blade hit one of his flint-chip eyes in the process; striking a number of fat, yellow sparks as the eye skittered away. Sparks that landed on the ‘cracker. Sparks that landed right at the base of the ‘cracker’s fuse. Four battered puppets froze as the fuse smoked, then sputtered alight… BANG! Marcus almost fell off his workbench as the ‘cracker burst to short, sudden life. He watched as puppet parts were scattered over that side of the shack – adorable and grisly in equal measure. At least Frosty’s stupid hat was gone. Hans the Moleman began scooping snow-that-had-recently-been-Frosty into a handy box before ducking back into his pile of debris near the workbenches. The ‘cracker hadn’t stopped all of Seamus’s friends and an overstuffed second Teddy was already waddling this way. Hans didn’t like the look of those teeth. Not one bit. Nor did Joss, especially when Teddy used them to devour Joss in a furious scuffle of axe-hands and mouth-teeth. As the stuffing settled to the planky floor, Marcus could see that Teddy had lost an arm. Joss had lost everything. The Moleman shuddered in fear, trying to burrow deeper into his concealing detritus. Teddy had made short work of Joss and Hans was nowhere near as tough as Mr. Choppy-hands. In desperation, he began to pelt the stuffed animal with snowballs-that-had-recently-been-Frosty, hitting him repeatedly in the button-eyes and -nose. Marcus hopped off his bench to get a better view, Rosebud scraping along at his heels. Marcus thought the Moleman’s aim was shockingly good for such a near-sighted puppet. He ought to be able to hold off the Teddy at least a little while with those snowballs. Snowballs were a much better version of Frosty. A useful version. Not to mention hat-less. He glared needles at the Guild Marshall who brandished his pop-gun at Teddy, looking nervously over his shoulder at Marcus between gestures. Zappa the Razorspine Rattler slithered mechanically over Joss’s remains, twining his body around the Incredibly Overcomplicated Power Storage Device. Parts of it seemed to glow more brightly as Zappa tried to haul it back toward Marcus. Zappa remembered that Marcus liked to play fetch. The IOPSD was sparking and fizzing as bad as the ‘cracker now. Teddy had probably broken it along with Joss. Teddies were always hard on toys. Marcus urgently waved a flaming arm to shoo away the buzzing ‘Rattler and his unstable burden. Zappa didn’t seem to get the point, but he didn’t like flames any more than the next puppet and scuttled obligingly toward Seamus instead. Marcus shouted encouragement and Zappa sparked happily. He would fetch the IOPSD to Seamus. Seamus would play! Seamus tried to duck behind a Punk Zombie, but Zappa was too fast and the ‘Rattler nearly slithered over the other puppet in an attempt to reach Seamus. The Punk’s huge switchblade snicked into place, but it was too late. Unstable at the best of times and badly jostled by Zappa’s spiky coils, the IOPSD exploded - nearly as loud as the 'cracker. Razor-sharp spines rattled off the planks as Joss’s device avenged its owner. Zappa, the Punk, and especially Seamus were reduced to a scattered mess of gears and snarls of spent thread. Marcus smiled in satisfaction as Rosebud slid forward; set to snatch up the smoldering scraps of Seamus’s stupid, stupid hat. Come to think of it, Marcus did like to play fetch… :happypuppet1 If this batrep seems really one-sided, you’re not imagining things. Partly because of my selective memory, partly because I’m unashamedly Marcus-biased, and partly because of the almost embarrassing way my deck did exactly what I wanted, whenever I wanted that game. Tauwolf had perfectly reasonable draws, but mine were almost invariably just a little better. And lots of the time, that’s all it takes. Cheers, Chris. PS: stupid hat.

"defective" indeed! As soon as i get this leg sewn back on, and my staff glued back together and put out this fire, I'll show you! (mutter, mutter) getting all cocky because I haven't actually beaten her in a game yet... (mutter mutter)

@ Bohemian - Thanks for the compliment. The vast majority of my conversions (and the ones I foist on my fellow painters) are more to make the minis more personal, rather than fixing something unacceptable. Don't worry too much about the painting. I really enjoy painting myself, but its a necessary evil for a lot of gamers. We see lots [and lots] of bare metal/plastic armies around here so I give you a lot of credit for getting "a lot of paint on most of your puppets" despite not liking it. @ Lalochezia - Funny you should mention the battle report contest - we were talking about that earlier this week (still working to finalize my event Shoebox). The "plan" is to get in a little puppish combat this weekend and write up from there. We'll see how the game goes, but I'm not above filing a hugely biased narrative batrep if things don't go all that well... cheers, chris.

Happy New Year Puppets and Puppettes! It’s not as snowy here as this miniature merits, but it’s been awhile since the last post and now that the new year is here, it’s back to puppish business as usual… so I bring you Rosebud the Guild Hound. Game-wise, I’m branching out of my obvious “Tomes-only” Marcus roster to a barely-less-obvious “non-Tomes-stuffed-animal” option. I’ve found her Bite The Hand non-activation attack hugely useful and you get to use it again as an attachment if/when she gets hit on the nose with the rolled up newspaper of justice. The non-Tomes thing hasn’t been much of an issue since she has such a low activation (4:rams) - I don’t think I’ve ever actually needed to use Marcus’s special ability to activate her (he said, jinxing himself). Conversion-wise, this is probably what I’d consider a “moderate” level of effort (which is entirely relative). I spent a fair amount of time trying to clean up the stock wheels on the little platform under the hound before getting sufficiently frustrated to consider replacing all the wheels (it seems a hard shape to cast and mine was less than perfect). Replacing the wheels became replacing the whole platform, which in turn became replacing the whole lower platform with a scratch-built sled. I’m not entirely sure when the idea for this conversion hit me – we haven’t had anywhere near enough snow to see anyone sledding, but the idea seemed to fit pretty well. The board she’s standing on is a cut-down piece of planking I made for my bases – wood grained and ready to go. The runners are cut from ABS plastic sheet and the three cross-pieces are plain white styrene strips. The brass rivets holding the pieces together are pieces of brass rod – drilled, pinned, glued and filed. If that seems excessive, well… It might be. Shut up. :happypuppet1 I prefer to use ABS because it’s stronger, harder and IMO easier to cut and file into shape. Standard white plasticard is certainly fine – and I used that here because I didn’t have ABS that thin on hand – but it’s softer and more flexible, which can make it all too easy to mis-shape a piece or bend/break it during game-play. Not to mention I find it easier to see the gray ABS when I’m working than the pure white styrene. To each their own of course, but that’s my preference. The curling front of the sled runners actually helped make this a more stable miniature – the hound’s head sticks out well past the front legs and before she was glued to the sled, she was constantly tipping forward. The sled eliminated that issue to the point where she doesn’t technically need a base. She’ll still get one of my usual planky bases, but I photographed her without one so the gray plastic and resin parts would be more visible. Stay tuned next time for Episode 4: “I’m not sure what’s next”…

Season's Greetings Puppets and Puppettes! I’ve been marginally more productive than usual, but with less puppet-based work than I’d hoped. Nevertheless, Christmas is less than a week away, so I have a somewhat timely little puppet conversion to post. As Tauwolf mentioned, I actually won my first game of Puppet Wars the last time we played. In all fairness, I won more by accident and good cards than any sort of plan, master- or otherwise. Puppet Wars requires you to go through the whole deck before you get to reshuffle, so there’s a significantly reduced chance of real craziness than in say, a dice-based skirmish game. But man, when the cards decide to be on your side, look out. I got to do pretty much whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Tauwolf’s deck wasn’t remotely as helpful. While running roughshod over his puppets, I coincidentally developed some respect and affection for the Ice Golem pawn. This was only the second time I’d used him. The first time he did very little – mostly standing on a flank and glaring icicles at my right-side opponent in a 4-player brawl - but this go-around he may well have been my Most Valuable Puppet. He was good while he was alive, he was good when he blew up, and he was good as an attachment. Conversion ideas + sterling performance = spot on my Adepticon Puppet Crew and I starting converting him for the occasion last week. The stock model is a little slanted, so I started by cutting off the lowest 1/3 of his body and re-seating the upper portion to make a more vertical, but still irregular, snowman. The Ice Golem puppet looks a lot like a mean snowman, so it was only natural to give him a top hat and call him Frosty. Serendipitous Bonus: the more pronounced putty button-eye looks a lot like a monocle with that hat. I swapped his arms for cut-down GW plastic dryad arms (looked creepier to me) and added a bit of putty for texture and reinforcement. Since I’d just realized what great range the Ice Golem has, I posed the arms to look like he was throwing something and inspired by the art; that something became a frowny-face snowball… Stay tuned next time for more wintery Wyrd-ness…

LFG beat me to it - I did sculpt these and pressure-cast them in resin make more. They're 23mm, which fit quite nicely on the 1" (25mm) hexes of a certain puppish board, if I do say so myself. and as she said, if anyone's interested in getting some for their minis - drop me a line.

Greetings puppets and puppettes, After a weekend of household tasks that had depressingly little to do with miniatures, I [believe] I’ve wrapped up the conversions on my first pawn – Zappa the Razorspine Rattler. This conversion is primarily cosmetic (per usual), but the coiled extra tail length does provide a slightly more stable base than the single pin on the stock ‘Rattler. The photo is pre-paint so you can see the thinner part of the tail is just brass wire and the thicker part is a cast-metal guitar string from Dragon Forge Designs. If you have any use for tubes and hoses like this, I’d highly recommend checking those out. Since they’re cast, you have a mold line to clean but that’s SOP for minis and they are soooo much easier to cut/bend/fit to a conversion than an actual guitar string (which I used to do); it’s entirely worth it IMO. The circular saw-blade on his head (inspired by the puppet art) is just standard white plasticard. Normally I prefer/recommend ABS plastic sheet because it’s harder (easier to file) and gray (easier to see), but this was the right thickness so there you go. Rather than try to cut the saw-blade in half and fit it flush to the top of his head, I cut a slot in the upper rear quarter of the head with a jeweler’s saw, glued the plasticard sheet into the slot and began filing it into the right shape (putty cleaned up the extra sawn areas). The slot ensured that this tiny piece of plasticard is very securely in place, both for filing and for game-play. Sure, I had to cut off his head to cut the slot, but it’s not like I wasn’t going to re-pose it anyway. Plus now I can clearly envision him head-butting things for attention, like my cat. [disclaimer: I have not added a saw blade to any part of the cat] Zappa was pretty time-consuming (even for me) because I spent a truly silly amount of effort getting the “tail extensions” curved just so and the teeth in the saw blade to look right. So naturally, I’m all geeked to repeat the process on at least one more ‘Rattler. I’m not sure I’ll take two to Adepticon (although they have a lot of synergy with Marcus), but I have at least one more in the ol’ Toy Box and a composition all picked out for him. We’ll see. Stay tuned for yet more unnecessary conversions, it's kinda my thing...

I may have spoken too soon. Last night's puppish combat saw LFG smack down three of us again. Admittedly one of the players was entirely new to PW (but not to gaming) and Tauwolf and I seemed to very effectively forget how to play several times, but she wasn't even using her usual Pokey Vik (Pandora FTW). That was my first use of puppet Lady J and a ram-heavy force and I flubbed it a couple times. I think you need to plan her buff abilities (as opposed to randomly flailing about as I tend to do). But it occurs to me that I can't remember actually winning a game of PW, so you should probably ignore most of what I say... :happypuppet1