Car Wars Arena's finishing soon!

Heya folks,

The Kickstarter campaign for Car Wars Arena's will be finished in 44 hours!  They are approximately $2000 away from the next goal of $85K which will give everyone free issues of ADQ.  If they reach $90K Car Wars Arena's 2 is the prize.  If you have not pledged yet, now is the time!  If you've already pledged maybe its time to review your pledge, for $65 you get a copy of Car Wars Arena's, Car Wars Classic and the new and updated Car Wars Card Game!

Pledge now and don't miss out on this great package deal! 

Hit the linky here: Car Wars Arena's

Car Wars Arenas Kickstarter is Live!

That's a bad-ass bike!

Heya folks,

I'm back with some Car Wars news, the Kickstarter project for Car Wars Arenas went live earlier today! The goal is $50,000 in the next four weeks with nearly $25,000 already pledged today. The box will include five 22x34" arenas with a booklet that includes special rules for each. Stretch goals start at $75K and go up to $150K. They include additional maps, double sided maps, a Car Wars patch, custom dice and at the top tier additional dropped weapon and debris counters.

This is NOT for the new 6e version of Car Wars, this is a suppliment for the recently released Car Wars Classic, there are pledge levels that incude this set and the original Car Wars Classic box if you missed out on the first two runs.

Make sure you head over and shell out your hard earned cash to support Car Wars and Steve Jackson Games.  Linky HERE!

Otherworld Miniature Labyrinth Lord Level 2 Miniatures Complete! **Image Heavy Post**

The gang's all here!

I finished up my Otherworld Miniatures Level 2 figures yesterday.  I'm happy with how they came out, though the pictures are a bit fuzzy.  Sorry for the quality of the snapshots, I think my lens is messed up, it would not focus and everything came out really dark.  Hopefully you still get an idea of how they look, these are great miniatures with loads of detail!

More pictures after the break!

The rest of this post is picture heavy, enter at your own risk!

Taliban On The Attack! **Image Heavy Post**

Show of force!

My Taliban forces for Skirmish Sangin are done!  They're all 15mm Elhiem Miniatures purchased from the always awesome Syr Hobbs Wargames.  The technical is from an unrecalled manufacturer, it was die cast and the gun and gunner are both from Elhiem.  I glued the wheels in place, then scuffed the paint and primed it before giving it a white coat of paint.  I think the original color was yellow.

The rest of this post is picture heavy, enter at your own risk!

The Marines have landed! **Image Heavy Post**

I finally completed my Marine Corps forces for Skirmish Sangin.  These are 20mm Elhiem miniatures painted in various Citadel or Vallejo paints and purchased from Syr Hobbs Wargames.  The two vehicles are Dragon Models 1/72 HMMWV M1114 w/M2 & M1114 w/Mk.19 Up-Armored Armament Carriers, with the one on the left fitted with an S&S Models upgraded turret.  I still have several heavy weapons to paint including a Ma-Deuce and a MK19 Automatic Grenade Launcher but all of the men and vehicles are done.

I am currently working on the opposition forces, I have a mixture of Taliban/Al-Qaeda that are about halfway done, I'll post pictures of them when they are all complete!  For now enjoy my Marines!  Semper-Fi!  

More pics after the break!

My Favorite Artists - Zhu Bajiee

I am very excited to announce that for today's Our Favorite Artists post I had the pleasure of interviewing none other than Zhu Bajiee.  Zhu has been involved with both Barrowmaze I and II and has also done work for Red Box Games. Zhu took a few minutes out of his schedule to answer some questions for me back in 2012, and now in 2014 I present to you dear readers his interview!

• First of all, thanks for taking some time out of your day to speak with me, please introduce yourself and give us a brief bio:

Hi! I'm Zhu, which is my artist name. I have  a real one too.

• When did you first discover your creative talents?

All my mates in school said I was better at drawing than them. Then  I went to art college, which was full of people in the same position, and realized that being the best isn't what it's about.

• How would you describe your style and where do you draw your inspiration from?  Do you have a favorite piece you have created?

Black and white, grimy, graphic fantasy. The things that make me most want to draw stem from history and folklore mixed together into modern sensibilities. The writings of Tolkien and Gygax are very inspiring, then so is nature, walking though the wilder, green, growing places of the countryside, and I generate have half a hundred ideas for drawings.  I couldn't choose a favorite piece, it would be unfair to the others.

• Who is your favorite artist? What draws you towards his or her artwork?

There's a whole bunch of people whose work I admire. It's difficult to pick one. If I were to say one that has direct influence on my artwork, it's Aubrey Beardsley, his command of line and space is beyond genius. It's really his craft that gets me - the penmanship, something I've always eschewed in my own art, is exquisite. I generally prefer his more tame pieces (Morte D'Arthur) to his erotic stuff.

• Is art a full time occupation for you?

In the sense that I'm thinking about it when I should be doing other things, yes.

• What projects are you currently working on?

I've got a lot of stuff for Barrowmaze 2 to do for Greg, I'm loving the dungeon-crawl aspects and all the strange archeological references.   I've also got some character designs I'm working on that are at sketches at the moment.  Right now I've got a drawing of a Red Box Games Helsvakt underway, and am just taking a break before doing some more tweaks.

• You've created art for a number of gaming products, are you yourself a gamer and if so what are your favorite games?

Yes, I play games. I really like early editions of Warhammer (more strategic and complex than of late) and AD&D, which is the daddy of them all. The board-game Talisman is fantastic, and I'm also guilty of Fighting Fantasy.

• Who is your favorite musical artist and why?

I listen to a lot of music.  It's a bit cheesy, but music is about setting the mood, staying motivated to work. I've just finished a private commission for a collector, based on early TSR D&D, whilst doing that I almost exclusively listened to folk and electronica - bands like Pentangle, Espers, Goblin, The Advisory Circle. The stuff being put out by Ghostbox records, for me it's very D&D. Today I've been drawing a messed-up psychopathic norse warrior, so I've been listening to 90s grindcore bands like Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death, Carcass.

• What was the last book you read?

Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy.

• Where can the readers go to see your art?

http://realmofzhu.blogspot.co.uk/p/art-of-zhu.html

I've recently set up a deviant art account as well,

http://zhu-bajiee.deviantart.com/

• Lastly, any words of advice for aspiring artists?

I'm not really qualified to offer advice. There are a lot more opportunities to get your work seen by the right people now than ever before, and you can probably find an audience for your work much easier today than 20 years ago.  I've been very fortunate to find people who like what I'm doing enough to commission it, so a big thanks to them.

CAR WARS CLASSIC HAS ARRIVED!!

 

Two days after ordering it online, Car Wars Classic arrived on my doorstep!  The game apparently sold out at Warehouse 23 in around four hours!  This is just a quick unboxing so everyone can see whats in this edition.  Lets get started!

Smells like victory!

Inside the box is the rulebook which is 64 pages with a saddle-stitch binding.  There are 103 color counters which are double sided, though the vehicles have the same image on both sides which is odd.  There are only two wreck counters, they also have the same wreck on each side.  I would have liked to have seen the cars with their respective wrecks on the back.  I wonder if this was a proofing issue.  Anyway the counters include all of the classic images like the golden van, the limo, the VW Bug, and the red pickup truck.  There are also pedestrians, motorcycles, oil, smoke, gas, spikes, mines, handeling and speed counters, numbered car counters and small and large debris counters.  They are all printed on a much thicker stock and feel very nice.  Also incuded is a turning key as well as well as four six sided dice.  There are two record sheets, one for cars with a weapons list on the back and one for cycles with a vehicle build sheet on the back.

The counters are nice and thick!

Rule book and record sheets.

The last piece that included is the map.  It's a double sided map which includes a raceway and an unnamed arena map.

Lily checking on the Arena Map.

Lily making sure the Raceway Map is printed correctly.

Back of the box.

This is a very nice version of Car Wars, small and packed with everything you need.  The only issue seems to be the same vehicle images printed on both sides of the counters, hopefully this will be corrected, I'd love to have the wrecks on the flip side of the counters.

Find a copy where you can and remember, drive offensively!