Painting Descent - January

Just wanted to post a quick update as January wraps up. Over on BGG, the Painter Guild runs a monthly "Challenge List". For January, my goal was six figures: Bol'Goreth (a lieutenant), a set of four monsters (Volucurix), and a hero (Pathfinder Durik). I got them all done (finishing Bol'Goreth tonight). Here are my lifetime totals and the figures I finished for the month:

• 57 monster figures done
• 18 hero figures done
• 8 lieutenants done
• 6 figures done in 2019 through 5 weeks

Bol' Goreth

Volcurix

Pathfinder Durik

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Descent Session Report: Heirs of Blood Campaign - Part I

Prelude

As those that take an interest in Things of No Interest may know, I have a lot of Descent stuff. Like, a lot. Base set, two large box expansions, 4 small box expansions, a number of hero and monster sets, and the Heirs of Blood campaign book.

The original 2nd edition of the Descent base game came with a campaign - The Shadow Rune. At some point, Heirs of Blood replaced The Shadow Rune as the default campaign and they released the hardback book for owners of the original. I am one of these people.

However, without a regular group to play this, everything sat around while I was painting the figures. Then FFG released the Road to Legend app, which allows for the game to be played solo - much like the solo quests that FFG released for Descent, but rather than sets of cards specific to a setting, it was all handled by the app. And this was great and let me start really playing the game. Unfortunately the app has a couple of small drawbacks. The app has its own campaigns and handles travel on its own. This means that all the campaign material that come with the expansion boxes sits unused. It also means that a lot of the game material sits unused (all the overlord cards etc).

Prior to RtL being released, I found a solo system that had been developed by a BGG user - RedJak. RedJak had developed a system called the Automated Overlord Variant (RAOV) which was a set of rules and cards that gave an AI setup for monsters and for each quest of each bit of published material from FFG. This system was great, but maybe a hair clunky - keeping track of all the overlord stuff and hero stuff was a little much. RedJak also developed a system for creating random dungeons (DelvenDeep). Eventually the two systems were somewhat combined to create RedJak's Automated  Monster Variant (RAMV) which took out a lot of the overlord stuff and replaced it with a more streamlined event system. Interestingly, RAMV plays a LOT like the RtL app - except that you play the actual published campaigns.

So here we are. I decided that I wanted play through some of my actual materials. I already had all the RAMV cards printed up and ready to go. I also decided that I didn't want to have a set of figures in progress with painting needing to be used, so I decided that I was going to play the Heirs of Blood as the intro campaign, using only the base set - heroes, classes, monsters, shop cards, conditions, travel cards, and lieutenants. For the second half, I may end up adding in any monster and hero set that I've finished painting. One last note - I'm using the amazing D2E Campaign tracker this online tool tracks everything and is a great way to log your adventures.

Intro Quest - Acolyte of Saradyn

A caravan of monks that the heroes were tasked to protect had run into a goblin ambush on its way to the monastery. The heroes arrived just in time to come to the aid of a young boy that was fighting off the attacking goblins.
The heroes managed to fend off the ambush and saved what little valuables were left. They learned the boy's name was Tyrus and, as night set in, the heroes were met on the road by an elder-priestess of the monastery called Helena, who invited them to where her army was camped.

Acolyte of Saradyn is a little intro quest to get your juices flowing. The maps is tight and the goal is very easily achieved - defeat the "attack dogs" (Barghests). There are three villagers that you can rescue (one per round). I only rescued two, because I won before the end of the second turn. Yeah, it was that simple.

That's ok, this allowed me to refamiliarize myself with the RAMV system and enjoy a quick playing.

After a lot of quests, there is a choice of quests to pursue, which allows for replaying the campaign with fresh adventures. I was presented with two choices (the choice usually goes to the winner of the previous quest, the Overlord or the Heroes). Having no idea what might be more interesting, I simply picked the first option - Siege of Skytower.

Siege of Skytower

The heroes were visiting a bastion overlooking the valley when it came under assault of the Overlord's forces led by Belthir and Sir Alric Farrow, with the goal of taking the bastion's tower. 
 As the Overlord's minions managed to breach the gate and take tower of the bastion, the heroes only choice was to retreat and fall back to the monastery.

Now things are getting real. The map was larger and there were a ton of things to setup. First up was the campaign travel steps. There were three travel steps:

• In the first step the overlord would have normally gained a card. With RAMV and no overlord, the rules say to draw a certain kind of card, which said to replace the master monster with an agent (Merrik) in the first monster group.
• Nothing happened
• Each hero ended up failing a random test and started the quest with one less health and fatigue point. 

Swell, an extra hard monster (Merrik) instead of what ended up being a master goblin archer. Not quite the same at all. The quest already included TWO lieutenants - Sir Avric and Belthir, goblin archers and cave spiders, plus two random groups (which ended up being zombies and flesh moulders). Ugg. At the start of each round, the overlord side would bring in 3 goblins or flesh moulders (which were going to try and run off the map on the other side). Additionally, a new cave spider would get added at the end of each round (if one was available). All in all, a steady stream of things to deal with throughout.

For the heroes, the goal was to last 8 rounds without letting too many of the bad guess through. The map had three routes to the exit and three doors (only one of which could be shut at a time) that could be closed via remote switches. Sadly, the remote switches were guarded by zombies. 

The good news was, what looked overly hard at first, wasn't too bad. The goblins and flesh moulders only goal was to move off the map, so unless they couldn't move, they wouldn't attack. This meant really only having to take out the spiders and zombies. It also turned out that Belthir was just a story thing - he just flew around the map trying to move guys towards the exit in a faster manner. Sir Avric also wasn't going to attack, but only try to escape - he just counted for a lot more than all the little guys AND if he could be defeated, there was a good reward for the heroes. 

Starting to get overwhelmed!

Right off the bat, I ran a hero to the switches to flip them until I found the secret waterfall door. I lucked out and closed that on my first try, but that hero (my fighter) ended up alone and surrounded by zombies - they would later knock her out. The other two (thief and mage) took the responsibility of trying to thin down the spiders and anything that got through via the other two routes the monsters could use to exit. 

The first couple of rounds weren't too bad, but neither did I take command. I got rid of the master cave spider, but had a hard time getting rid of the others. My thief did manage to find a shield, which was a nice surprise. He has lots of ways to hide and defend himself (and as you'll see, it didn't matter). My mage had a lot of bad attack rolls and just slowly was getting beat up.

He's getting away and there are no heroes!

About halfway through, the flood gates seemed to just open up and the monsters started overwhelming the team. I had slowly picked off the zombies and turned to trying to kill off Sir Avric to win the end-of-quest relic. Though he didn't fight back, he was a bear to try and kill. While I was working on him, the spiders were working on my thief and mage and knocking them out again and again. Eventually, Merrik joined in and the spiders killed my mage and thief enough times that Sir Avric slipped through and I came up about one round short of beating him. 

I also ended up having some bad luck in that a RAMV global event reduced my ability to recover down to one die (instead of two), so my heroes were getting knocked out over and over with no real recovery.

With heroes down (and the damn fast goblins) a flood of bad guys got through and ended my chances for a quest win in the seventh round!

So, my first real quest (the intro REALLY didn't count) wasn't a win, but it was a success. RAMV worked really well for playing the defined scenarios. An interesting note - D2ETracker has stats on all the quests. This particular one favored the Overlord by a hair (52% of the recorded wins). The fact that my result was very close is a good sign for things to come. Until next time!

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Painting Descent - Pathfinder Durik

Let's paint this guy!

Thought I'd share what it looks like over time as I work through a figure, so I took some work in progress pictures as I painted this figure (recall from last time, the goal is one a week for the year, so I am technically behind so far for 2019).

 I always prime my figures - I don't trust the plastics and I've always had decent results with the gesso I use (ProArt black gesso). Gesso shrinks as it dries, so I don't feel like I lose detail on the figures and I don't have to deal with outside temp or conditions in order to spray - I just brush it on.

Generally speaking, working from the inside out makes it easier to paint, so that means starting with the lowest areas - the skin. I wanted to start with the skin as I planned to dry brush after the base color and wash, and I'm sloppy about it, so not having to worry about overpainting is a good thing.

I picked a good grey/blue base color (Fenrisian Grey - Citadel) and thinned it down so I could apply a couple thin layers. After the skin layers dried, I needed to apply a wash. Citadel's washes are my preferred choice, but their blue is much too dark and their blue glaze is too bright blue. I have a number of Secret Weapon Washes too, but I don't like they way they flow as much as the Citadel washes.

I ended up settling on Secret Weapon Washes' Sapphire with a drop of Citadel's Drakenhof Nightshade and a couple drops of water to thin it. The color was just right and didn't darken the skin too much overall.

Once that dried, I went and dry brushed over the skin with an off white (Citadel Screaming Skull). The point was to reduce the blueness a bit while highlighting the face and areas like the hands. Once that was done, I went back and added a bit more of the wash to the recess of the eyes (I picked up an eye trick - the idea is to darken the eye socket area, which you will then add white for they actual eye. The extra shade in the socket area helps it to look more natural and less like "ping pong ball eyes). With the skin more or less done for now, it was time to move on to the rest of the bulk painting areas.

I have a nice tan color I like to base lighter colors and browns with from P3 (Rucksack Tan) that I've thinned down for my airbrush. I also use it to brush on (as I did here). I basically hit all the furs, boots and the areas I play to lay down a lighter color (the wraps on his wrists). After taking this picture, I decide that I'd apply another layer of the tan to the skins and just use washes to get the color I wanted. The nice part of this technique is that it's faster. I don't have to worry about a little bit of the black primer showing through the tan, once the wash is applied, it'll look just fine - uniform color looks unattractive and cartoonish because of the lack of shading and on things like furs, variations look much much more natural.

Now, the picture above doesn't show the back side, so I have some leeway in colorings, though the cape does appear to be fairly light. I don't particularly like light furs, so I went with a more orange color and plan to "lighten it" with some dry brushing.

So here we have the next phase. I applied two different washes to the cape/furs. Citadel Fuegan Orange to the upper part and their Reikland Fleshshade to the lower. I also took some straight (untwined) Rucksack Tan and went over the boots, one armband and the cloth between his legs.

I pulled the Screaming Skull back out and did the fur on his boots and the wristbands.

The fur edge of the boots I wanted to be dingy, so I washed those later with Citadel Nuln Oil wash. The boots, warps and cloth I wanted a more subtle shading to, so they got my go to wash - Citadel's Sepia. If the cloth had been wrapping a mummy or some such, I would have gone back and used a little bit of a light green to really make the wraps look good.

As you can see here, the furs already have a bit of a pop to them. The wash settles into the recesses and stains the original color (that color being the same as the boots here). Furs are soooooo much easier to do than cloth capes and robes.

After they dried, I went and dry brushed a bit of Elfic Flesh onto the orange fur. The light color stood out far too much against the darker orange, so I pulled the Rucksask Tan back out and dry brushed a little of that into the orange cape as well. The color of that blend was much better.

While I had the tan on the brush, I also barely hit the lower fur to help that along.

At this point there wasn't much left to do but some of the detail items - the necklace, some feathers, and the weapons on him. And of course, the eyes.

And there is the finished result. My picture skills are a bit suspect, but he came out pretty decently. He'll look really good on the table. And if you are wondering, I totally cheat on the eyes. After laying down a small amount of white, I use a micron pen to dot the eyes - saves me so much frustration. Time to get back to painting!

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Painting Descent (2019)

In a random discussion that was being had yesterday, I got to wondering how long I've been working on painting my Descent game. Much to my surprise, the earliest picture I could find of my Descent 2nd edition work - ie something that I had painted - was from August 2013! Wow...

All my painted monsters from the base set

I mean, this isn't the only thing I've been painting. Heck, this isn't even the only edition of Descent I've worked on in that same timeframe. But 5+ years is a lot of time to spend painting one game.

All the monsters above (31 figures) and all the heroes (8) were finished in the fall of 2015 (the full base set of the game). Since that time, I've also acquired and finished painting:

• All the lieutenants from the base game (6)
• Skeleton and wolf familiar proxies (2)
• Villager proxies (4)
• Lair of the Wyrm expansion (8 monsters, 2 heroes)
• Valyndra Lieutenant (LotW)
• Crusade of the Forgotten expansion (9 monsters, 4 heroes)
• Trollfens expansion (7 monsters, 2 heroes)

All my painted figures from Lair of the Wyrm

Then there is the currently in progress stuff:

• Bol'Goreth Lieutenant (Trollfens) 
• Labyrinth of Ruin expansion (13 monsters, 4 heroes)

All my painted figures from Trollfens

AND THEN, there is the waiting to be done stuff*:

• LoR Lieutenants (3 + 1 hero)
• Shadow of Nerekhall expansion (12 monsters, 4 heroes)
• Manor of Ravens expansion (8 monsters, 2 heroes)
• Mists of Bilehall expansion (12 monsters)
• Guardians of Deephall expansion (9 monsters, 4 heroes)
• Crown of Destiny expansion (9 monsters, 4 heroes)
• Treaty of Champions expansion (9 monsters, 4 heroes)

So that brings me to a total of 64 monsters painted, 16 heroes painted + 6 misc. I only have 76 more monsters and 23 more heroes to finish! Ugh! I really hope that it doesn't take me 5+ years to work through. If I get through the WIP (work in progress) stuff, the LoR Lieutenants, Shadow of Nerekhall, and one of the Guardians, Crown or Treaty sets by the end of this year, I'll be really happy. That would be an additional 34 monsters, 4 Lieutenants, and 13 heroes. That seems like a really reasonable amount for a year right? That's like one figure a week for 2019 - heck, if I can do two a week, that's all of them. Yeah, right!

I'll get there eventually. It seems like a small thing, but the game is certainly more entertaining with all the colorful figures on the map than it is with piles of red and white bad guys chasing down a couple grey figures. Which would you rather play?

With paint

Without paint

It drives me crazy playing the game now with painted guys and generic unpainted guys. I'll still do it, but halfway through I start thinking about how I'll paint some of the unpainted stuff. As usual, I'll try and post stuff here for anyone to see.

If you want to see all the work I've done on Descent and keep an eye on what I'm getting done, you can visit this list on BGG. 

*NOTE: this is just a count of the stuff I own. There are still nine more lieutenants, and five more expansions that I don't own (roughly 44 more monsters + 9 lieutenants + 20 heroes). 

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Cult of the Not So New January 2009

Hey! It is 2019 and it has been a while since I've done this, so it is time to look back at the hotness from 10 years ago! 

BGG user JonMichael Rasmus (jmsr525) has been doing analysis of the games and their trends each month for what seems like forever. I like looking back, because frankly, there are lots of good games that didn't come out in the last two years, and lots of games you probably heard of that don't get played (for good reason). So sit back and enjoy this blast from the past. Based on information in the geeklist - BGG Top 100 Analysis June 2009

Prime Movers

• Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries (+20 #75) - When this was initially released, you could actually only get it in Nordic countries (or Europe or some such). I was lucky enough to have a friend travel overseas and grab me a copy (which I eventually traded). In the last year or so, this map made its way online and we've given it some more play. Really a decent map for 2-3 players (it has a similar flavor/feel to the Switzerland map). It might have REALLY shot up if it had been released in the USA, because at this point in time, (except for maybe Power Grid and Age of Steam) games didn't have tons and tons of variants/expansions as a rule. This currently sits at #121, which isn't too bad for a TtR flavor.
• Battlestar Galactica (+18 #29) - I have never played this game. I liked the show well enough, but (at least with our regular group) this game was too long for my taste - and I just don't love co-ops. I know, this is a traitor game, but that doesn't make it better to me (I'd rather play something shorter like One Night Werewolf or something).

Falling Stars

Well, technically none, but these two each fell 6 spots (a "falling star" was something that dropped more than ten spots). 

• Through the Desert - One of Knizia's classics (and a great great game IMO). Infamous for the pastel camels that remind people of "wedding mints" (those cream cheese mints that are pressed into molds and then coated in sugar). This is a great area control game that isn't the same as what you'd think of in area control game. Currently at #445, this is one that isn't in most people's radar, but is still a good game. Trust me, this stands the test of time and deserves a look if you've never tried it (it is a top 20 game for me).
• ZERTZ - possibly my least favorite of the GIPF series for a couple of reasons. First, it was solvable. The designer had to go back and add more rings in order to un-break the original design (later edition include a dozen extra rings). Secondly, the round parts look cool, but seriously, playing with a bunch of marbles is a pain in the butt. Currently the game sits at #525

Hot Lava Birth

• Space Alert - Space Alert is a cooperative team survival game. Players become crew members of a small spaceship scanning dangerous sectors of the galaxy. The missions last just 10 real-time minutes (the missions came on a CD, which required you to have a player). It is funny because when this was released, everyone wasn't running around with a smart phone and bluetooth speakers. But, when this came out, it did something new and interesting (and was a short co-op where you played in a panic) and how the heck is this still sitting at #168? I assume you can download the soundtrack now, but still... Anyway, this broke into the top 100 at #97
• Blood Bowl 3rd ed. - this came in at #98 (currently #277). This is a Fantasy Football minis game that had (and still has) a loyal following of players. Like a lot of Games Workshop minis games - you are either a minis person or not.

Top Ten Trends

I like the top ten trends. Some of the PBM folks were talking about the #1 spots earlier and I had a fair idea of a number of them just because of this particular topic.

• Through the Ages (+2 #8) - TtA kept on with its steady rise (though it never held the #1 spot). I've mentioned it many a time in the past - I was a huge fan of this for a long time, but after a number of games, it fell out of favor with me due to a couple of (IMO) serious issues. For a longer game, bash the loser sucks, especially with no way to recover once it starts. If you enjoy this, great, have a good time.
• Caylus (-1 #9) - Caylus peaked at #2 in 2005 (about 4 years before this). People were sure it would overtake Puerto Rico, but it never did. Instead, Agricola became the newer hotness (and it did overtake PR). Currently Caylus sits at #47. 
• Race for the Galaxy (-1 #10) - Race peaked the year prior at #8, and you are starting to see its slide out of the top 10. Interestingly, it currently sits at #48. I wonder if it and Caylus just slowly dropped as newer (better) games slid in over time. We shall see in coming chapters!

Top 5 Winning Movers

These are the highest ranked games that have shown any positive position movement in the last month that aren't in the top 10.

• Shogun - Though it has been a while since I've done one of these, I've mentioned Shogun before. Gamers who are newer to games might only recognize this classic mechanic if you've played Amerigo - ie the cube tower (DON'T BUMP THE DAMN TABLE). A really fun Euro with a unique combat system (the cube tower). If you haven't played it, you should find this and play it at least once (if you've tried and played Wallenstein, you know what this is already).
• Pandemic (Second month!) - yeah, ten years ago, co-op games were just starting to make a splash, so this was cool (or hot I guess). 
• Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery - anyone remember that there weren't two games before this? Nope, this was named after the PC game (and it really had nothing to do with the game, in this case, it was pure marketing). All that aside, this is a really decent euro game with interesting choices. About four years ago it was redone as Empires - Age of Discovery, so you might have played it. If you haven't you are missing out on a descent game that is worth playing.
• Combat Commander: Europe - STILL one of my all time favorite games. Let me explain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Buttercup is marrying Humperdinck in a little less than half an hour, so all we have to do is get in, break up the wedding, steal the Princess, and make our escape after I kill Count Rugen. Much like the Princess Bride, the reason this is one of my all time favorites? Every time I play, I come away with some fantastic session that gets retold over and over again. For a tactical-hand-management game about WWII, it cannot be beat.
• Battlestar Galactica

And that's all for this look back at BGG history and what was hot a decade ago.

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Sleeve Kings - Card Sleeve Review

Welcome to 2019! We are here to start the year discussing card sleeves of all things! If you want to know why I care about sleeving - go check out my article from last year about To Sleeve or Not to Sleeve.

Full disclosure: I was provided with two packs of card sleeves from Sleeve Kings for review - I was not otherwise compensated.

Sleeve Kings ran a Kickstarter during 2018, which was fully funded. They should be fulfilling pledges sometime this month, and then their web store should start accepting orders. The premise for their sleeves (straight from their homepage):

• Thicker Than Any Other "Standard" Sleeves - Most "Standard" Sleeves are 40 microns thick, a few are even 50 microns.  Ours are 60 microns thick! That is 50% more than most!
• 10% More Sleeves Than The Other Guys - Standard sleeves come 100/pack.  We are the only brand offering 110 per pack!  10% more in every pack! 
• The "Clear" Winner - Our sleeves are made from Cleartech™ Polypropylene.  Our sleeves are made from 60 micron thick sheets which are demonstrably clearer than the other guys.  You can actually SEE the difference.  Just as diamonds are rated on a clarity scale, even 100% polypropylene can vary significantly from product to product depending on how it is manufactured.  You will see the difference!  
• Cheaper Than Other Brands  - Most brands retail for $3 or more per 50 pack.  We are offering ours for $2-$3 per pack for even the largest sizes and 110 sleeves per pack!
• Buy Direct From The Manufacturer & Save!  - How are we able to offer these so cheap?  We ARE Sleeve Kings!  This is our brand!  We produce directly from the factory and sell directly to you.  There is no middleman!
• "Tough As Nails" Guarantee We have created these sleeves with the most advanced polypropylene processing in the industry.  This means importing our polypropylene already in the right sizes from the middle east and then cutting and sealing our sleeves at our factory in China.  We have a special process to make our sleeve actually warp/bend before they split.  Our sleeves are guaranteed never to split.  Just how tough are our sleeves?  We dare you to try the "two finger challenge" on any other brand of standard sleeves and pull the sleeve apart to try to force the sides to split.

Ok, so the question is - do the cards match their claims? I requested two different sizes: small card and standard American. These are the equivalent to FFG Yellow and Green sleeves (41mm x 63mm and 57mm x 89mm). **Side note, if you ever need to know what size sleeve your game needs, visit this list at BGG). I choose these because I have sleeved Descent and it'd be easy to do comparisons against sleeves I know I have extras of and use regularly. 

The Sleeve Kings first claim is that their sleeves are thicker. According to the BGG Card Sleeve geeklist I just referenced here is the information for the various brands:

• Arcane Tinmen: All sleeves are 80 microns.
• Artipia: Standard sleeves are 40 microns. Premium sleeves are 90 microns.
• BCW: Board game sleeves are approximately 100 microns. Other sleeves vary.
• Blackfire: Most sleeves are 40 microns. Premium sleeves are 100 microns.
• Docsmagic: Regular sleeves are 50 microns. Premium sleeves are 100 microns.
• Dragon Shield: All sleeves are 120 microns.
• Fantasy Flight: All sleeves are 105 microns.
• Kaissa Games: Standard sleeves are 50 microns. Premium sleeves are 80 microns.
• KMC: Standard and Mini sleeves are 100 microns. Perfect Fit sleeves are 45.5 microns.
• LaTCG: Perfect Size sleeves are 63.5 microns. I have no information on their other sleeves.
• Legion: Unknown thickness, but comparable to Fantasy Flight. 
• Mage Company: 100 microns.
• Mayday: Standard sleeves are 40 microns. Premium sleeves are 90 microns.
• MTL: Soft sleeves are 40 microns. Thick sleeves are 90 microns.
• Paladin (NSKN): All sleeves are 90 microns.
• Sleeve Kings: All sleeves are 60 microns.
• Swan PanAsia: Standard sleeves are 40 microns. Premium sleeves are 90 microns.
• Tasty Minstrel: Unknown thickness, but comparable to Fantasy Flight.
• Ultimate Guard: Classic Soft sleeves are 40 microns. Premium Soft sleeves are 50 microns. Supreme sleeves are 115 microns. Master sleeves are 160 microns.
• Ultra-Pro: Deck Protector sleeves are 110 microns.

So they are thicker than some, but not nearly as thick as others. Also, of note - I believe Sleeve Kings is headed up by Seth (of Mayday games) but their sleeves are NOT the same as Mayday's nor are they made in the same factory or by the same process. So these are not Mayday sleeves, re-branded.

So, interestingly, unless you buy fairly cheap sleeves (or worse, penny sleeves), you will find the Sleeve Kings' sleeves thinner. I'll have to say, I didn't find this to be horrible. The sleeves are only 60% of the thickness of most premium sleeves, but they don't feel cheap by comparison. When you have a large number of cards, the thickness starts to be noticeable, and so stack height starts to matter.

On their second point - nearly all of the brands sell themselves in packs of 50 or 100, so you do indeed get more. Does it matter that much? Depends on how much of a MAGO you are... I will say this, if you are doing a lot of sleeving, the cost point paired with the amount of cards you get is really good.

Sleeve Kings on the left, FFG on the right

As for their next point - clarity. I found their sleeves to be slightly clearer. What I can't actually say is whether this was due to the reduced thickness or or the material or whatever, but they are slightly less cloudy than the FFG card sleeves (not that I find FFG sleeves to be particularly "cloudy"). Also, please don't try and judge the clarity based on my inability to take great pictures with my phone. In the picture above, you can't tell much difference and it really isn't that different in person either - as I said, it is slight.

Sleeve Kings' sleeves are a hair wider

While we are looking at the above pictures, I'll take this opportunity to point out size differences (as opposed to thickness). Now, the Sleeve Kings' sleeves are all 0.5mm wider than most of the competition. Honestly, it isn't super noticeable. If you are sleeving a heavily shuffled card game (Star Realms or a deck builder like Thunderstone) and you only had one or two of the wider ones, you might be able to pick them out on width - I have noticed size differences in other brands before and in other games I've sleeved and it hasn't bothered me or been advantageous in any way I've seen, but if you are a MAGO, it might bother you if your sleeves are not uniform.

Interestingly and despite the width difference, the sleeves are actually snugger than the FFG ones. The are also shorter, leaving less extra sleeve at the top. Does any of that matter? Not that I can tell - it doesn't seem to make it easier to shuffle (you'll still have to avoid bridge shuffling since you will still catch cards in the opening). I honestly hadn't ever noticed the extra space on the sides of the sleeves using the FFG brand, but for whatever reason, Sleeve Kings do fit better (ie less space between the card and the sleeve edge). Sleeve Kings has made a point of stating these are not Mayday sleeves, but if you use Mayday sleeves - these fit a lot like their premium ones.

And now we get to the Sleeve Kings' final point, and one that they have made a big deal about - the strength (and quality of the manufacturing). Let me first say that with clear sleeves, I generally do not have an issue with ripped sleeves (I don't use penny sleeves as I've indicated a number of times). The sleeves I've had issues with are generally because of two materials (sleeves with an opaque back) that split when sleeving or after a bit of use. That being said, I gave their sleeve challenge a go, ripping up FFG and Sleeve Kings' sleeves, and here's what I found.

If you put a couple fingers in FFG cards and pull, they rip - right down both sides and without too much effort. These aren't bad quality sleeves, so don't get the idea that FFG sleeves rip if you look at them wrong, but it didn't take much effort to try to rip them.

FFG small

FFG standard

Now, when I tried the same with the Sleeve Kings' sleeves, it was tougher. 40% of the sleeves I pulled on, I was not able to get them to rip down the seam and all I ended up with was a bunch of stretched out sleeves. The rest ripped, but admittedly with a bit more effort. Which is to say, their claim that their card sleeves are stronger on the seams appears to be true, and I agree that they are when using their finger pull test. As I have not fully sleeved up a deck builder/shuffle heavy game, I can't say how they'd stand up over time (as far as splitting goes when played with heavily).

Sleeve Kings

Sleeve Kings

Sleeve Kings

Conclusion

So, would I buy and use these instead of FFG sleeves? Yes, maybe. Sorry, that's a terrible answer. Let me explain why I use the sleeves I currently do and my main reservation. 

For boardgames with non-magic sized cards that I want to sleeve, I typically use FFG sleeves. For deck builders or LCG/CCG (anything "Magic" sized) I use Ultra Pro card sleeves. I don't think they are necessarily the best or that they are my favorites, but the price and availability are decent. I can find either brand all over the place - I can get Ultra Pros at Walmart if I want. FFG sleeves are pretty readily available at any FLGS and on Amazon. I long time ago, I compared Mayday premium sleeves to FFG and preferred them over the FFG ones for many of the same reasons I like the Sleeve Kings' sleeves (which I'll state here in a second). The only reason I don't use Mayday premium sleeves now - I couldn't get them. My FLGS carried them, but they couldn't get them back in stock, so they never had them and they were constantly unavailable online as well. I eventually decided that the (small) differences didn't matter as much as being able to actually get sleeves easily.

So that's really my only hesitation. If Sleeve Kings can keep up the supply chain (beyond the first part of this year) then I'd easily recommend these sleeves. As this is a new brand/company, there isn't an evidence either way except for my past history with Mayday (I also have no clue if Mayday ever got their supply issues worked out as I stopped using their brand). 

Pros

• Sleeve Kings fit the cards better and they are shorter (less gap at the top of the sleeve.
• They are 40% thinner than most premium sleeves without feeling cheap
• They are stronger on the seams than thicker sleeves
• Their cost is good. 110 sleeves @ $2-3 is a really good price. FFG sleeves are more than twice that cost.

Honestly, the thinner thing is really appealing. With a game like Eldritch Horror where you have 1300+ regular sized cards (assuming you are an expansion fanatic), storage is an issue. For deckbuilders this is also a problem. I've stopped buying Legendary expansions because I am out of room for more cards. I'd say if you are just starting out with a game you want to sleeve, these are a great choice. I don't think I'm going to go about re-doing/re-sleeving all my games, but if they are able to keep them in stock so that they are easy to get, I will likely choose Sleeve Kings for my sleeving needs in the future. 

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Painting Happened!

Welcome back! Fall is crazy busy with back to school and fall activities and such and I finally hit a point where I said I needed to regain a little sanity and time for myself, so I cleared off my painting space and looked what I had lined up the last time I had painted anything. And what did I find? Plague worms and a hero from the Descent: Trollfens expansion. 

Well, I have been eyeing the plague worms for a while now and wanted something alongs of the picture to the left here. Not quite as red of a worm, but I really liked the green ones with the orange undertone. I had something a little more pink and grey for the master in mind. 

I really like doing monsters like this, because you can get away with some less detailed work, while still ending up with something outstanding, if you know where you are trying to go.

I had already primed (in black gesso per my usual MO) the figures. For the normal worms, I wanted something of a bright orange "head" and a slightly less orange body. The green skin over the top would hide any glaring issues (I was pretty sure). I know that orange on black primer either looks like crap or take lots of coats, so I opted to basecoat with a tan. I already had a tan that I had mixed for my airbrush, but since I was only doing two models, I just brushed it on. Not perfect, but it didn't need to be for this exercise. For the master, I base coated a standard greycolor.

Next up, I coated the bodies in Bestigor Flesh and the heads with Fire Dragon Bright Orange. This looked ok, but I wanted to take it up just a notch, which meant giving them a nice wash. For this, I use Cassandora Yellow which is very orange - too orange as it turns out, I think the age of mine is showing and it needs to be thinned down. Turned out ok though - nice bright orange like I was looking for, though it retaught me a lesson I had forgotten. When using similar hues next to each other and then a strong wash, you are going to have trouble noticing the differences.

As you can see from the shot on the right, it just looks orange. Although it ended up being the color I wanted for the undertone, I needn't have wasted time using two shade. Oh well. For the master worm, I simply through on a black wash over the gray. I still hadn't a clue what I really wanted to do with the master except that I wanted the maw to be a pinkish color. I maybe should have just washed the grey primed worm with red, but I didn't. Oh well.

I took out the pink and painted in the maw of the master and then got a nice deep red out and set about dry brushing it. Except that I did a fantastically poor job of dry brushing and quickly realized I was using the wrong brush for the size and had far too much paint on the brush, so all I really did was rebase the mini with crimson red and pink. Change of plans I guess. See that first pic at the top? I was closing in on that. Well, ok then. I washed it again in black and decided I'd come back and dry brush it in grey with red undertones.

Back to the regular worms. With a different brush in hand and a much better technique (ie the proper amount of paint on the brush). I managed to cover the worms in a nice green shade. Though it is hard to tell, I eventually went back with a lighter green to add some additional depth to the coloring in some areas (which I would once again waste with a wash).

Ok, quick interlude here. I spend a small amount of time on Pinterest looking at paint jobs for figures (sometimes the ones I want to paint, sometimes just at technically really great minis). Though I like to shoot for my Descent minis to have some resemblance to the art from the publisher, if I stuck strictly to that, everything would be grey and brown. Seeing what others have done inspires me to try different schemes and in some cases helps me notice details I'd normally miss. In the case of the worms, I'd NEVER have figured out and orange undercoat with a green skin. Never. Instead, these were looking really good. Not an exact replica of the original inspiration, but it is easy to see what I was basing them on.

So now, the basics were done. What I needed was to start working the details. I spent a bunch of time looking at Warhammer models (because there are a lot of plague demons and other crap that have pustules on them). I pulled back out the Cassandora Yellow and put an appropriate size dot on each of the boils. Once that dried, I got out a bluish grey and  painted in the boils. Things were looking good.

The maw was still too orange to be left alone, so I decided that I needed a brown wash to bring out the details and darken the interior a good amount. I turned to my collection of Secret Weapon Washes (which I honestly don't love because I don't like they way they flow). In my brown washes, I have a great color - Baby Poop. Knowing how the SWW flow, I ended up with exactly the result I was looking for in the maw and then got inspired to thin the wash down with water and cover the rest of the worm - I wanted to tone down the brightness of the grey-blue boils and pull everything together a little. Thinned down, it was like a light coating of dirt over the whole figure - it was great. The boils still had the right color, the orange was still orange underneath, and the green skin was a nice putrid color. Just a few details in the maw to do.

For the master model... As I mentioned earlier, it ended up very red - actually almost purple. I dry brushed some gray, but inspired by this dragon model (if you are a painter, read this article, it is pretty interesting) and the artist's description of using purple and greens to create the different grays, I also dry brushed a light bit of green over the gray and finally felt like it was getting where I wanted it to be. The purplish undertone with gray-green looked pretty good (though I had really at this point lost the pink color I was trying for in the maw at the start).

I decided to go with green for the boils and liked the look enough of the green droplets that I decided to just use a little yellow on top rather than a different color as I had done with the boils on the regular worms.

Getting all that done on the models just left a couple of details to finish. Each worm's body parts are coming out of a "base" so I painted each of the rock bases and did a heavy wash on them. Each of the maws have a number of teeth that needed to be done (not just the ones on the edges, but also inside the maw. A surprising number of painted models I saw completely ignored the inner teeth - a simple detail that shouldn't be overlooked - a small number of small brush strokes added a lot to the detail of the model.

As I was finishing up the bases, I decided I wanted some of that pink back on the master, so I went and grabbed a bottle of pink and dry brushed the slightest amount around the maw.

So, while it has been a while since I painted, these worms were a good way to get back into the swing of things. I like monsters models like this - they allow for some playing with various techniques that I don't normally get to try and all the imperfections are not obvious at first glance (and of course, this kind of monster has no face to worry about). I don't know if this means there will be a steady stream of new stuff, but I do tend to get more painting done in the fall/winter, so we shall see.

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Eldritch Horror - Session Report

Prelude: King in Yellow. Since I didn't have any Ancient One decided upon, I decide to play along and pull out Hastur for the AO. Besides, last time I played, there was a lot of foreshadowing that about the King in Yellow.
Starting team: Daisy Walker + Zoey Samaras (lead). Thanks to the prelude, they each spend a sanity to gain a clue, but Zoey (the lead) starts off with a blight (new condition from the Carcossa exp).
Setup: Expedition in Arkham, two gates (thanks KiY) - San Fran and Shanghai. Monsters seem to be nothing scary, but I need to kill the zombie in San Fran before the first reckoning or it becomes the epic Zombie Mob.
Mystery: I need 4 clues FROM Research Encounters to solve the mystery. Only one clue on the board. Guess I'll need to go to London and drum up some clues for the board.

Round 1
Daisy: move to Rome + special action to acquire tome (fail). Agatha Christie has disappeared, Daisy's investigation spawns clues on gate Cities (which I have a couple of)!
Zoey (lead): special action to gain a task + move to London. Helps a bishop uncover agents in the church. His prayers heal and improve will!

Ancient Guardians - An article on the back of a newspaper catches your attention...
** Things go south fast. Reckoning causes Zoey to lose her cross and impairs influence and will. Added a gate in the Himalayas. Event spawned two more monsters - on the expedition site. One causes the lead investigator to become cursed (right after she got rid of the blight she started with).

Round 2
Zoey(lead): moves twice to a clue spot. Finds a painting that has a clue. Gains Debt to gain the clue (spent towards the Mystery).
Daisy: moves twice to Bombay (heading to gates). Wanders through a library and finds a tome artifact! (good for her specials).

Relics of Old ongoing rumor - must go to the current expedition and pass observation test to end rumor. Seems reasonable.

Round 3
Daisy (new lead): tries to use her artifact (failed) and moves to Himalayas. No strength, can't beat the cultist there :(
Zoey: Can't possibly fight the zombies while cursed - heads back to London. An archeaologist asks for help, but all she gets out of the deal is a haunted condition. Poor Zoey is not having a good game.

Lost Knowledge ongoing rumor - must defeat the Tick Tock men (who spawn in North Australia) or lose all clues on the board and any possesed clues. Sheesh. Like I wasn't clue poor enough...

Round 4
Daisy(lead): Successfully uses her artifact to improve her strength + gain focus token. Still can't beat the cultist.
Zoey: Move to Rome + gain focus token. Can't help Bast out and gains a disease. I think a reckoning is going to end her with all the crap in her life.

Rally the People - after the noise and violence is over, one of the shopkeepers peers out his window...
** Doom moved 2. A Byakhee ambushes Daisy. Zoey loses a bunch of sanity. Expedition moves to the pyramids. Zoey trades haunted for hallucinations, remains cursed, got rid of debt, and disease impaired her influence some more. New gate and cultist in Istanbul. Daisy gained an ally. I can't believe Zoey didn't go insane.

Round 5
(I suddenly realize you can't do any action twice (like moving) unless using a ticket - too bad my cheating hasn't helped me any.)
Daisy(lead): Her cat burglar ally tries to steal and fails (this is an action) + gains a focus. Finally beats the cultist. Gate: Lost Carcossa (how thematic). She closes the gate and saves a life back in the real world, gaining an ally (who ends up being a much needed bodyguard).
Zoey: Gains a focus token + moves to pyramids. Zoey manages to solve the Relics of Old rumor, which is nice, but not helpful really.

Hunter Becomes the Hunted - You keep replaying the struggle in your mind...
** Zoey is ambushed, thanks to a cultist, and goes insane. Akachi Onyele will take up her investigations. Daisy gains a blight and loses her cat burglar ally. New gate in London. The event itself does nothing to my investigators.

Round 6
Daisy: gains a focus token + moves to Tanguska to try for a clue. Defeats Colour Out of Space, but is close to going insane.
Akachi (new lead): Boat ticket + moves to Rome. There she implores the pharohs to watch over her and becomes blessed.

Eyes Everywhere - Now that you know what to look for, you see them all around...
** Doom advances 2 more. Reckoning: Monsters move doom 1 more. Akachi is ambushed but only loses a touch of sanity. Daisy gets another blight. Tick Tock Men rumor concludes and kills all the clues on the board. Daisy's blight wounds her and she can't continue. New gate in Tunguska. Finally, a Gnoph-Keh ambushes Akachi. Monterey Jack the Archiologist joined the team. He starts with a bullwhip and a treasure map (and a porn-stache). Totally an Indiana Jones rip off, except the mustache. Actually, he kind of looks like the Disney character with the same name.

Round 7
Akachi(lead): Grabs train ticket + moves to London. Akachi (despite being blessed) fails miserably at the gate and ends up injured.
Monterey: Grabs a focus token and sits tight. Monterey meets a recovering Daisy and collects her stuff and also retreats doom a little.

No Peace for the Fallen - You can feel the decay clinging to you...
** Doom charged right back. Cultist spawned in London. All the defeated investigators stuff goes back and they are gone. Akachi got cursed/lost blessed. At least Monterey got all of Daisy's stuff before this happened.

Round 8
Akachi(lead): Grabs focus + uses special to determine next gate. Through the gate she gains a madness condition, but closes the gate.
Monterey: Uses Daisy's Old Journal to advance the mystery one + tries (fails) to use the tome artifact. Successfully navigating the pyramids, he finds a relic and comes away unscathed. Completing the expedition, he finds another relic on the way out. This guy is awesome.

The Time Has Come - In the night sky, the planets and stars have aligned...
** Doom advances a couple ticks (at 2 now). New monster spawn in Antarctica (coincidentally, where the clue pops) sigh.

Round 9
Akachi(lead): rests in London and gets rid of her back injury + moves to Istanbul to hit the gate there. After beating the cultist, she goes through the gate, where mi-go scientists beam thoughts into her brain. She learns a spell.
Monterey: Also moves to Istanbul. Using an arcane insight spell, he gets Akachi a clue, but she loses sanity in the process. It costs Monterey a ton of clues (re-rolls), but he eventually closes the gate.

Omen of Good Fortune - You drop a penny into a particular mechanical device...
** Doom advances to 1. New Gate in Buenos Aires. The event lets me set the omen wherever I want, I set it in hopes of closing the red gate next turn (thus avoiding more doom).

Round 10
Monterey (new lead): Uses his artifact to increase Lore + trades some items to Akachi. Tries to use a clairvoyance spell, but doesn't pass the lore test, then in Istanbul he impresses someone with his lore (they are easily impressed apparently) and gains influence.
Akachi: Grabs a train ticket and moves to Shanghai. Akachi manages to close the gate, but becomes paranoid.

Cold Snap - Frostbite stings your ears and nose...
** Doom ran out anyway thanks to the monsters during the reckoning effects, so Hastur awakes. A gate opens in Arkham and eveybody gains hypothermia.

Round 11
Montery (lead): Gain a focus token + rests but can't shake the hypothermia condition. Successfully uses his Clairvoyance spell and gains the clue in Antarctica to solve the active mystery.
Akachi: Boat ticket + moves to Tokyo. She tries to enlist the Japanese navy, but is detained instead of getting help.

Wonders of the World - the various things in the world are slowly making the investigators insane. Lead gained a relic but he also ended up delayed thanks to a monster spawn (a hunting Byakhee no less - interestingly a lot of the randomness has more or less stayed with the theme of King in Yellow)

Round 11
Monterey(lead): Was delayed, so did nothing. Fought the monster - no outcome, lost a health.
Akachi: was detained from last turn and couldn't get out of it. Her cruel captors couldn't drive her mad though.

We're All Going to Die - You anonymity was an illusion. The servants of the ancient one know exactly who you are. Insanity all around. The end.

Conclusion
Once again, I played with only investigators that I hadn't played with before. I was starting out all women, but Monterey and another guy came up, so I went with "fake Indiana Jones". If you can keep him at the expeditions, he is a relic generating machine.

I've been doing a better job of closing gates (I think in large part because the monsters I've pulled have been easier to deal with the last couple of games), but it hasn't made me more successful, partially because I keep having a string of good luck with one investigator while the other just takes all the lumps and doesn't do anything. By the time the bad luck one exists, things are spiraling out of control. It has been a while now since I enjoyed a victory over the forces of chaos.