Forced March Update 2 (and Honeyacre Militia)

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We’re in the thick of it now, folks! Forced March continues with some lovely submissions from seemingly everyone but me, but rest assured I am working on my first infantry unit and should have it posted soon. For now, a quick recap of the participants and their submissions thus far. As always, please let me know if I’ve missed anyone!

Simon, from Fantorical, is working on a unit of Uruk-Hai crossbowmen (crossboworcs?)
Dave, from Wargames Terrain Workshop has been busy indeed, with a squad of Star Wars Imperial Scout Troopers, some old-school metal Space Marine Scouts, a squadron of Space Marine Speeders, and some Star Wars Imperial Stormtroopers, to boot! Dave always brings his A game to every challenge and this one is no exception!
Roger, from Rantings From Under the Wargames Table, has completed a unit of Forge Fathers (Mantic Squats). I love those miniatures!
Azazel, from Azazel’s Bitz Box
Tom, from Good Ground, painted a squad of Iron Warriors Space Marines

And on Instagram:

James, @spoontasticminis is working on some Emperor’s Children Space Marines
Sabrina, @Uthwulfsminis is working on a squad of Space Marines, too, and best of all, they’re MK VI Beakies!!!! (As they SHOULD BE!!)
A newcomer this year, whose name I do not know, @horridperson
And finally, @groddsnods

Be sure to check out these very creative folks and their impressive efforts!

I’ve been late with my submissions because I’ve been bogged down in a project since December that was originally supposed to be completed by the end of the year. I knew if I paused mid-way to work on Forced March, I would likely never return to it, so I made myself finish before doing anything else. I present The Honeyacre Militia!

These are Halflings from Wargames Atlantic. They do NOT count for Forced March, because I started them in December. Particularly attentive visitors to this site may recognize five of these fellows from a couple of years ago, when I painted up a sprue that came free with my copy of Miniature Wargames magazine. I always liked the way they looked, they paint up nicely, and so I bought a box of them last year, figuring I’d throw them together and use them in my never-to-be-completed-or-played Empire army. Instead, I made a militia based on a settlement of Halflings in my current AD&D campaign.

It is a failure of my character that I often do things against my best interests, knowing myself as I do. For example, I have posted that I have no patience for plastic, and yet I bought and assembled 40 plastic halflings on a whim that soon became a millstone around my neck. (Yes, I still have 20 more of these motherfuckers to paint. Not happening soon.) My lack of patience has not changed, but I still really like the look of these models when assembled and painted, so hopefully this will be worth it in the end.

You can arm your halflings with spears/halberds, slings or bows, and there are individual bits available for character models. The spears are long and look great, but they’re also quite fragile with a tendency to break, which is a bummer. Between the militia and the other, unpainted unit of halflings I used up all my spears, only to have 2 of them break about halfway down the shaft, so I guess now I have two (unpainted) halflings armed with quarterstaffs.

These halflings armed with slings are pretty cool. They made me realize I have very few miniatures armed with slings.

I used the bows the least, although I like the look of the archers very much. The hero with the horn was painted a few years ago, part of the original five (the other four were spearmen).

I guess the spears are long enough to double as standards if you wanted to add a banner, but it would have been nice to have a dedicated banner pole in the box. There is a little bit that looks like a chicken that may be intended to replace the spear tip for this purpose, but I didn’t use it.

I gave my hero an old GW shield, because the shields that come on the sprue are laughably tiny.

Honeyacre is known for its mead, hence the shield device. Painting a bee freehand on a shield the size of a dime is a skill I no longer possess, if ever I had it.

A closeup of the heroes.

Like I said, these don’t count towards my challenge this month, but now that I’m free of these halflings at last, I’m available to start on my first infantry unit for Forced March: some miniatures that harken back to the earliest days of Dead Dick’s Tavern!

Forced March: First Update

Nothing from me yet, although work continues apace on that long-delayed project from December. I have primed, based and readied two small units for eventual painting this month. Meanwhile, have a look at some of the other participants, because stuff is already rolling in! Drop by their sites and lend some support and encouragement!

These are all the participants thus far, along with any Forced March submissions I am aware of. If I missed anything (or anyone), let me know!

Simon, from Fantorical
Dave, from Wargames Terrain Workshop has done a squad of Imperial Scout Troopers. Like all Dave’s stuff, especially his Star Wars stuff, they’re awesome!
Roger, from Rantings From Under the Wargames Table, has completed a unit of Forge Fathers (Mantic Squats), and as always has done a ripper job!
Azazel, from Azazel’s Bitz Box
Tom, from Good Ground, has painted a squad of Iron Warriors Space Marines!

Meanwhile, over on Instagram:

James, @spoontasticminis
possibly Sabrina, @Uthwulfsminis
A newcomer this year, whose name I do not know, but who has thus far not lived up to their namesake, @horridperson
And a latecomer to the challenge (it’s never too late), @groddsnods, who I just bet will be joining us for Forgotten Heroes in June, too!

Whatever these folks do, whether for Forced March or not, is worth a look. You won’t find a more supportive and inspiring group of hobbyists out there. Check them out.

Forced March begins in two days!

This week began with a blizzard here in Massachusetts that dumped a ridiculous amount of snow on us in roughly 24 hours. Although we knew it was coming, the actual snowfall far exceeded projections. We are a state that doesn’t tremble at the thought of snow. It’s hardly our first or (even our hundredth) rodeo.

Still, this was a cast-iron bitch of a storm, and although it ended on Monday evening, it will take weeks to clean up. My town got close to 40″ of snow, but the drifts in my yard were well above five feet. It took me a full day to snow blow and shovel my driveway and property, and at 53 years of age, let me tell you it sure sucked. There’s no parking anywhere in the city where I work (it got more snow than I did), so I stayed home most of the week. So did everyone else.

You would think that would give me plenty of time to focus on my hobbies, but not really. I was so exhausted and sore that I just wanted to sit there and not move. After gripping a snowblower all day, it’s not like I could hold a paintbrush steady, either.

But that’s over, and March approaches. Time to get the units ready for painting. “Forced March” is upon us!

Here is a list of all those who have confirmed they are participating in my new challenge, which, as a reminder, is to paint a unit of infantry or cavalry in the month of March. Any scale, any genre…but I define a unit as “more than one model belonging to a group designed to deploy and function together in combat.” While technically units can be a single model (such as a vehicle, artillery piece or a monster), I’m hoping for at least three models.

But of course, there aren’t any miniature painting police here, so do what you want.

Anyway, the participants thus far are:

Simon, from Fantorical
Dave, from Wargames Terrain Workshop
Roger, from Rantings From Under the Wargames Table
Azazel, from Azazel’s Bitz Box
Tom, from Good Ground

And from Intstagram:

James, @spoontasticminis
and possibly Sabrina, @Uthwulfsminis
A newcomer this year, whose name I do not know, but who has thus far not lived up to their namesake, @horridperson!

If I missed anyone, or if anyone else wants to take part, you need only let me know in the comments below, or drop me an an email at angrypiper@angrypiper.com, or PM me on Instagram @angrypiper. I will add your name and website/IG account (if applicable) to the blogroll forthwith! If you don’t have either of those and still want to take part, no problem! I’ll host your images here on this very site.

Let’s get priming (if you haven’t done so already)!

“Forced March” is Coming!

I’m still working on a project I started in December with the intent of finishing by the end of 2025. As you can see, that hasn’t happened. I just can’t seem to paint for long periods of time, and this project contains 20 miniatures. (That’s half of what was originally planned, by the way.)

Painting such a large number of miniatures is something I haven’t done in a long time, and it got me thinking about starting a new challenge for March, entitled, appropriately enough, “Forced March”. What are the rules?

Paint an infantry or cavalry unit in March. This can be any size unit, although I feel like it should be more than a one-model unit (like a giant, for example). Vehicles are allowed, but again, preferably more than one. So, a squad of Eldar jet bikes is fine, but a Leman Russ is just being lazy. This can be for any game and in any scale.

So these Dwarfs would work.

Ditto for these Klingons.

Or these Colonial Marines.

Or even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They’re a unit, too, right?

Let me know if you want to participate and as usual, I’ll link your blog/site/Instagram account when the challenge commences! At the rate I’m painting, I likely won’t be doing anything too ambitious, myself. I’m hoping another challenge might kick me in the pants and jazz me up, because Monster May(hem) will be here before you know it!

Gotham City: Under Siege!

A while back, I said I wanted to paint the miniatures from the Gotham City: Under Siege game shown here, and I did, although it should surprise no one that I haven’t played the game. Apparently, it’s a cooperative boardgame where the players take the roles of Gotham’s heroes and you work together over the course of four acts to thwart the evil schemes of Batman’s villains.

The game comes with fold-up paper buildings, which I guess function as the board. They look nice, anyway.

I have the expansion to the game, Masterminds & Mayhem, which contains new rules, schemes and villains, but sadly no new miniatures.

Speaking of the miniatures, here they are: Catwoman, Batgirl, Robin, Batman, and Commissioner Gordon and Officer Montoya, representing the GCPD. All are done in the signature Bruce Timm style from the Animated Series, which I love.

First: Catwoman. The easiest one to paint by far. Not that the others were difficult, but she came together in about half an hour.

Meow. The mold lines on these miniatures were a bit obnoxious and tough to spot. I removed more than one after painting and had to paint over it again.

Next: Batgirl. I like this miniature a lot.

My iPhone misses nothing. Not even that stray paintbrush bristle clinging to her cape. Ugh.

Gordon and Montoya. Very cool figure, but a pain in the ass to paint. Since they’re both on the same base, it’s tricky to paint one without accidentally getting paint on the other, especially because they have the annoying habit of leaning together.

Montoya’s shotgun barrel is bent, too. Not much I can do about that.

Robin, the Boy Wonder. The Batmobile is not included with this game. Neither is the cop car above.

Yellow remains a painting bugbear for me. You’d think after 40+ years of painting I would have figured it out by now.

And finally, the Caped Crusader himself.

Painting this miniature put me in the mood to repaint some Heroclix, something I did a lot of, but has since fallen by the wayside. I still have a freezer bin full of Heroclix I plan on repainting, much to the annoyance of Mrs. Angry Piper, who would like to have the freezer space back. Why do I keep Heroclix in the freezer, you ask? Because they snap right off the dials easier when frozen, with little risk of breakage. If you want my extensive thoughts and advice about repainting and rebasing Clix, check out this post here that I did all the way back in 2016.

Challenge Accepted! I Blame Roger. (Again.)

Roger from Rantings From Under the Wargames Table has slapped me (and other bloggers) across the face with his glove, and while I usually like that sort of thing (especially from Roger), it has served to remind me that I have neglected both Dead Dick’s Tavern and other blogs that I used to patronize frequently. Roger rails against allowing blogging to die quietly in favor of the like/share crowd, that our posts are and should remain more substantive and thoughtful than a 10 second reel or a YouTube thumbnail of a channel host giving the Home Alone face to something we’re supposed to be outraged or excited about. And, as is often the case with Roger, he’s right.

It’s been over four months since my last post, and I wish I could say it’s because I’ve been too busy with my hobby to post about everything I’ve been doing, but that would be a level of bullshit that I am incapable of. The truth is rather that I (along with many of my friends, family and fellow Americans) have been having a rough time of it lately. My British friends would call it the Black Dog, here we just call it what it is: Depression. I’ve never suffered from it before, but I’ve worked in the mental health field for over thirty years, and even without the training that bestows, I recognize the signs and symptoms in me now, chief among them social withdrawal and a lack of interest and motivation in the things that once brought me happiness. Things like painting, gaming and blogging.

Recently, I’ve been reminded that I am called The Angry Piper for a reason, because in the last month I have blown my stack twice, going from calm, collected and–dare I say normal–to explosive rage, all within the span of a few seconds. It’s like I turned into the Hulk. The first time was when I was accosted outside a local market by a person collecting signatures to put an item on the Massachusetts state ballot: a fairly common occurrence. When I asked what the item was, I was informed it was to require voter identification to, and here’s a verbatim quote: “to make sure the people who are voting are the right people.” Just in case you don’t know who he thinks the right people are, you can assume he meant people like him (and me): white, middle-aged guys. It probably came as a shock to him when I told him to go fuck himself, and to tell me he’s a racist piece of shit without telling me he’s a racist piece of shit. He told me to have a nice day and I flipped him the bird as I walked away.

The second time is a bit of a long story, so I’ll be brief. While visiting a store I patronize frequently, I had occasion to help a family who needed help. It cost me very little to do so and I would do it again, not just because ’tis the season and all that shit but because it’s basic human decency to be kind to people as the rule, not the exception. The family was grateful and I l wished them a Merry Christmas and left the store. When I got out to my car, I realized I forgot something and needed to go back inside, and when I did, I found the store employees badgering and berating this same family for reasons I still don’t understand. Cue my second transformation into the Hulk. I asked them (yelled, really) if they would be giving me any shit if it was me instead of these people, and surprise! I got nothing but sullen looks in return. Once they begrudgingly served the family, I told these assholes to fuck off, put the stuff I was going to buy on the counter and told them I would never shop there again. And I haven’t.

It costs nothing to be kind to people, but this is where we are now. After both these instances, I tried to understand what set me off so quickly. How and why did I go from zero to gamma rage in seconds? It’s because I’m just done with it all, and I’m not the only one. (Disclaimer: Dead Dick’s Tavern is rarely a political blog. Just because I chose to share my thoughts on recent events here does not mean I am interested in defending my position or beliefs or arguing with anyone who feels differently. If that’s your intent, fuck off out of here, because I’ve heard enough of your shit to last a lifetime. Have a nice day.)

Not really what I wanted to talk about, or (I’m sure) what Roger had in mind, but there’s my explanation for my absence both here and elsewhere. I just don’t have much energy anymore. I’m still active on Instagram, but like here, I barely post anything because I have nothing to post. I still make a conscious effort to drop words of encouragement and appreciation on others’ posts, because it’s quick and easy, and, as I’ve said, it costs nothing to be kind. Much like the blogs Roger references, the hobby community over there is very supportive and welcoming.

But Roger’s right (that’s twice, for those who are counting). Blogs are where we dive into the nitty-gritty of our shared hobby, and we can’t let them die. So, I’ll do my part and repost the blogs Roger called out by name. Visit them. Read them. Follow them if so inclined. I am humbled and grateful that Dead Dick’s Tavern made the cut, considering my prolonged MIA period.

So, here’s Roger’s list:

Azazels Bitz Box

Bogenworld

Carrion Crow Buffet

Dead Dicks Tavern (Hey, that’s me!)

Pat’s 1/72 Military Diorama’s

Skinflint Games

SP’s Projects Blog

The Imperfect Modeller

War Through The Ages & Other Dark horrors

Wargames sculptors blog

Anne’s Immaterium

Dragons Of Lancasm

And Roger’s blog, Rantings From Under the Wargames Table

I would add Jon’s Hobby Desk to that mix as well.

Even though I haven’t painted much, I have painted SOME stuff, and I will share it in my next post. Back to miniatures and hobby stuff from here on out.

And thanks, Roger.

Board Game Blues: The Miniatures

I promised a closer look at some of the miniatures featured in my (mostly unplayed) board games, and here they are.

First, the eight heroes from Touch of Evil. These are some nice miniatures, roughly 28mm scale, suitable for any gaslight setting. The definition is much better than my blurry photography would suggest.

I like these a lot, and it wouldn’t be an overwhelming project to get them painted if I could just park my ass at my painting desk for more than five minutes at a stretch. Up next, the miniatures from Batman: Gotham City Under Siege:

L-R: Catwoman, Batgirl, Robin, Batman, and Commissioner Gordon and Officer Montoya. This game is based on The Animated Series, in case that’s not obvious from the sculpts. Painting these will be fun, and I’m definitely going to do it soon. I really like the Gordon/Montoya miniature. Too bad there’s no Detective Bullock.

Marvel: United! is a game that got a lot of hype when it released, mainly for the cute miniatures:

L-R: Black Widow, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Storm (with mohawk!)…

L-R: Venom (odd choice), Ant Man and the Villains: Red Skull, Taskmaster and Ultron. This game was a Cool Mini Or Not Kickstarter, and it funded quickly and with a ton of stretch goals, which were additional miniature sets that you could not purchase anywhere else. As a result, there are additional miniatures for this game that sell for ridiculous amounts of money on the secondary market. I picked up this core box at Wal-Mart for $15, IIRC, and that’s about as much as I want to spend on this game. Do I really need a cute Fantastic Four expansion? Not for $140 I don’t.

Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons has some awesome miniatures, well worth the $10 I paid for this game at Ollie’s. Like the Batman game above, this is on my short list of projects to paint (for whatever that’s worth nowadays).

Look at this sculpt of Diana. Freakin’ sweet, right?

Mansions of Madness has some amazing miniatures, all scaled at 32mm. Here’s a shot of some of the investigators and a couple of monsters, but the big Eldritch Horrors contained in this box aren’t featured on the box itself, which is a shame because my box remains sealed at the moment. This would be a big project to paint, and TBH I don’t know if I have it in me. I played the game before and it’s a lot of fun, but I think this may languish forever in the unpainted pile of shame, much like Space Hulk.

And now we reach game expansions for games I do not own (and never will), purchased solely for the miniatures contained inside. These were deeply discounted clearance items at Miniature Market (I paid $6 for the Solomon Kane expansion, a game that I’d actually purchase if the core set wasn’t prohibitively expensive).

First, some expansions for The Others, a game I know nothing about but one that has some cool futuristic/horror/pulp figures, as seen below.

Next: the aforementioned Solomon Kane expansion: Castle of the Devil. I’d say $2 a miniature is about right, especially when one of them is whatever the hell that thing is supposed to be. It almost made it into Monster May(hem) this year.

Finally, a couple of expansions for Yashima, an Asian fantasy-themed game. I like the miniatures, and I have a long -stalled Legend of the Five Rings/Samurai project that I will likely never get to, so I bought these because they’re cool. I think I paid $2 apiece for these expansions during one of Miniature Market’s “up to 90% off” clearance sales.

A couple more games bought solely for the miniatures, although both of these seem very playable: Journey: Wrath of Demons and Age of Thieves.

These are the heroes from Journey. I think this makes the third or fourth Sun WuKong miniature that I own.

These are the bad guys. IIRC, some of the demons are anatomically correct, which may offend some folks who don’t like dicks on their miniatures.

Above are the miniatures from Age of Thieves. You get 24 of the blue guards, which are quite serviceable for town guards (because that’s what they are). The other four are the thief characters you play in the game. Some cool character concepts here.

And that about rounds out my board game pile of shame. Hoping to get back into painting soon, but for whatever reason I’ve lost my mojo again. I seem to be incapable of choosing colors anymore, or for painting more than five minutes at a stretch. It’s not worth the time to set everything up. Any of you ever have this problem?

Board Game Blues Part 2: The Unplayed Games

Continuing on with my massive pile of board gaming shame, here are six from Ravensburger: Alien: Fate of the Nostromo, Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons: Indiana Jones: Sands of Adventure, Horrified, The Shining, and Jaws. You can follow the links above to see the painted miniatures for these games. Wonder Woman also comes with four surprisingly good miniatures, one of Diana herself and her four Amazon friends, that I hope to paint soon. I’ve played Alien: FotN before and very much enjoyed it. Ravensburger does some high-quality games that are well-reviewed. Although I hope to play all these games, the one I’m most looking forward to is Jaws. It has a reversible board: one side is Amity Island and the surrounding waters, the other side is Quint’s boat, the Orca. One player plays the shark, while up to three more players take on the role of Brody, Quint and Hooper. The first part of the game the shark tries to attack swimmers while the other players try to tag it with barrels and pinpoint its location. Then, play moves to the Orca, as the players defend the boat from the shark as it begins to dimantle it piece by piece. Sounds fun, right?

More games I hope to play, since I painted all the miniatures for these games, too: Dungeon Saga: The Dwarf’s King’s Quest, and Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps. Hard to believe Simon, Roger and I painted the Dwarf King’s Quest miniatures as a shared challenge waaaay back in September, 2018. Not so hard to believe that I haven’t ever played it since then. Not once.

More games I hope to play one day, but as yet remain untouched. Marvel: United, Batman: Gotham City Under Siege, and A Touch of Evil. Since I didn’t really look at these beyond checking out the miniatures, I can’t say how they play. I’ve heard good things about all of them, and the miniatures for them all are really great. I’m not a big fan of chibi-style art, but even I have to admit the Marvel miniatures are cute. The is the base set of Marvel: United, which was available at Wal-Mart. There are many expansions to this game that were all part of the original Kickstarter; to my knowledge that was the only way to get some miniatures and they go for insane amounts on the secondary market as a result. I’m fine with the basic box as I doubt I’ll ever play it. A Touch of Evil got pretty good reviews and has some excellent miniatures despite the goofy box art, and Batman is Batman. What’s not to like?

Two I’ve played, five I havent. I have played both the games in the bottom of this picture: House of Danger and Red November. House of Danger is based on the old Choose Your Own Adventure book series. It was fun, but replay value is somewhat limited once you “solve” the story. It’s my understanding new CYOA board games have been released, but this is a purchase I regret. Red November is a small Fantasy Flight game wherein you take on the roles of drunken gnomes aboard a sinking submarine. The pace is hectic as you race to put out fires, pump water, fight off a Kraken and try not to go down with the ship. It’s fun as hell!

I bought Pac-Man because I though it would be an easy game to pass the time during the pandemic. Never played it and got a sideways look for even suggesting it. The Walking Dead was another discounted pandemic purchase. I have no idea why I bought it, because it’s based on the comic, not the TV show, and I’ve never read the comic. I’ve also never played the game.

I picked up NInjato on the discount rack at my FLGS about ten years ago, because you get to play ninjas. I’ve never played it because I can’t understand the rules and haven’t bothered to look up any relevant YouTube videos. Dune: Imperium is a highly rated game that was released around the same time as two other Dune board games, one by Gale Force Nine and one that tied into the recent movies. This game is a deck-building game that combines elements of resource management. You take on the role of one of the Great Houses. Your goal, of course, is to control Arrakis and crush your enemies. Sounds really great, and I’ve never played a deck-building game, so I hope I get to play this one one day. It also has several expansions. Finally, First Martians is a cooperative game of colonization. That’s about all I know about it, other than it has an integrated app, which will most likely disappear after this game is discontinued if it hasn’t already. That makes this a poor choice for purchase and play, but I did it anyway because I didn’t know about the app before I bought the game.

Two I’ve had (but never played) for a long time: They Come Unseen by Osprey and Khronos by Rio Grande Games. They Come Unseen is hide and seek with nuclear submarines, played on two separate boards, one for the surface and one for the depths. I posted about this game on my Instagram account back when I bought it and it caught the attention of the game’s creator, a former Royal Navy sub commander who was quite pleased that I was interested in playing it. Sadly, I still haven’t done so. Khronos seems to be a confusing time-travel game in which things you do in the past affect things that will happen in the future, but the reverse could also be true. Since I picked up this pristine copy at a flea market for 3 dollars, I didn’t really care if I played it or not. I figured I could always sell it for way more than 3 dollars. Maybe I could, but shipping it anywhere would cost a stupid amount of money, so I’m stuck with it.

And finally, the games I simply have no excuse for purchasing, as I will never play them: Conspiracy: The Solomon Gambit, Dojo Kun, The Village Crone, Cutthroat Kingdoms, Five Points: Gangs of New York, and The Rose King.

Conspiracy: TSG is an updated version of the classic game, where you take on the role of a spy trying to get a briefcase back to your own country. The other players are trying to do the same thing with the same briefcase, so it’s not a cooperative game. Cutthroat Kingdoms and Five Points are similar in that they are political resource management games as you vie with the other players for control of the Kingdom or Five Points. New York, respectively. The Rose King is a two-player game that is meant to emulate the War of the Roses, with one player taking the role of York and the other Lancaster. You play cards to acquire and control space on the board. Dojo Kun is a game about kung-fu, which is why I bought it at Ollie’s. It’s a CoolMiniorNot game, which means it was probably abandoned shortly after release, hence me finding it at Ollie’s on deep discount. You train your fighters to take part in tournaments for a season, then actually compete in the tournaments. Like I said, poor purchase choices all around, as I’ll probably never play these and would play something higher up in this post instead if I had the opportunity.

Next up: a coda of sorts to Board Game Blues, in which I look at the miniatures from these games.

Board Game Blues: Part 1: Games I’ve Played

This is my gaming table. There are many like it, but this one is mine. I rarely use it for gaming, at least with other humans. I normally use it as a platform upon which my stuff accumulates, until I get yelled at or break down and tidy up. I did the latter recently, and was left with a spotless platform from which to exhibit the ridiculous amount of board games I’ve bought, most within the last 5 years. The dimensions of this table are 6′ by 4′. I say that so you can look at the picture above, and understand that all my board games are not shown in there.

I have a lot of board games, some with miniatures, some not. I acquired most of these during the pandemic, when spending money on stuff made me feel a little better about the world ending while our leaders (well, one anyway) said vaccines are untrustworthy but injecting bleach into yourself is the way to go. Anyway, this post is about those games, why I bought them, whether or not I played them, whether or not I hope to, whether or not I think I ever will, and whether or not I regret the purchase.

Disclaimer: I have been taught (and I agree) that it is gauche to flaunt one’s wealth. That’s not what this post is about. While board games are not cheap, I am most certainly not wealthy. Most of these games were not purchased for full price, but rather at deep discounts and on clearance from Miniature Market and Amazon. While I bought some of these games because I found them affordable at the time, it doesn’t mean I should have.Think of me as the poster boy for poor impulse control and fiscal irresponsibility rather than Richie Rich (who is the single worst cartoon character ever, and that includes Woody Woodpecker, who is an absolute kick in the balls every fucking time).

Let’s start with a game I purchased well before the pandemic, one I’ve actually played a lot and one I enjoy so much I went all in on it. This is Arkham Horror (2nd edition) by Fantasy Flight Games. My understanding is there is a very popular third edition out now, and it plays differently and contains miniatures. Still not enough for me to buy it, as I never even play this edition anymore. It’s a lot of fun, but like many games nowadays it takes forever to set up.

Two more Cthulhu-themed games from Fantasy Flight: Mansions of Madness (lots of awesome miniatures in here) and Elder Sign. Although my copy of Mansions of Madness is still in the shrink-wrap (a pandemic purchase), I have played the game at a friend’s house. I remember it being fun, but we lost. Elder Sign is a game where you roll special dice to get matching results to defeat challenges. It’s ok, but the mobile app game is better and plays faster. I think I played the board game once.

Another one I went all in on, and another one that takes forever to set up: Star Wars: Imperial Assault. The miniatures are great (but expensive) and the “board” is made up of tiles arranged as a map, like Space Hulk. I played it twice, mainly because it takes so long to set up that playing through more than one scenario results in a lot of downtime as the map is broken down and the map for the next scenario is built. It’s fun, but that part is a real bummer. Gameplay is similar to Mansions of Madness, in the sense that you have a clear objective and the enemies are just there to slow you down. I’m steadily working my way through painting the miniatures and expansions for this game, because I need to justify its purchase. I have the core set, Bespin Gambit and Twin Shadows expansions completed along with all the blister releases that coincide with the boxed sets, and I’m presently working on Return to Hoth. The boxed sets on the right above are still in the wrap. These got cheap once Fantasy Flight discontinued Imperial Assault and focused on Legion, so I bought most of the expansion boxes during lockdown. Will I play it again? I hope so. It would be fun to play with painted miniatures.

Speaking of Space Hulk, here’s the 2009 third edition that I purchased in 2009. I love Space Hulk and I love this version, but I haven’t played much of it because I wanted to paint the miniatures first. Sixteen years later, I haven’t painted a single one. The miniatures are exceptional sculpts, but sadly, the Terminators are Blood Angels (my least favorite chapter, as I hate red) and I painted so many Genestealers back in the 90’s that I am unenthused to paint any more. Will I play it? Maybe. It’s fun. But unpainted miniatures irk me.

Last, another pre-pandemic purchase that I’ve played a few times: Marvel Heroes, again by Fantasy Flight. Tough to find now. You take the role of one of the superhero teams (Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men and the Marvel Knights) and also take the role of one of your opposing team’s nemesis. Your objective is to complete missions while your nemesis seeks to mess with you and complete their own schemes. The miniatures are pre-painted and pretty nice, but the rulebook is hard to understand. IIRC, there’s a multi-page FAQ that addresses unclear rules. Of course, this document is no longer available anywhere since Fantasy Flight lost the license to this game years ago and no longer supports it. Will I play it again? Sure, if I get a chance. It was fun and doesn’t take forever to set up.

That about wraps up part one. There are other games I own that I have played, but they’re lumped in pictures with games I haven’t, so I’ll address them individually in a later post.

I took the month of July off unintentionally. Just seemed to fly by. I haven’t painted any miniatures since my last Forgotten Heroes submission. One of my miniatures that I planned for Monster May(hem) is still sitting on my painting table, halfway done. I really should get back to him.

Forgotten Heroes 2025: The Escapist

For my last submission to Forgotten Heroes this year, I present: The Escapist!

The Escapist first appeared in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay, Michael Chabon’s fantastic novel published in 2000. He’s the fictional character created by a couple of Jewish cousins working in the comics industry back in the 1930’s, the Golden Age of Comics. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Kavalier and Klay are an homage to the creators of Superman, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, only Siegel and Shuster weren’t cousins and Siegel (to my knowledge) wasn’t gay.

If you haven’t read this book, I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a novel about persecution, fear, Jewish identity, family, love, perseverance and heroes, both real and created. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Chabon won a Pulitzer Prize for it in 2001. Three years later, Dark Horse Comics published a series of comics, Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist, which featured stories about the character written and drawn by different comic creators. I don’t have any, but I wish I did.

But what about The Escapist himself? Because it’s early and I have to go to work, I’ll cut and paste Wikipedia for the benefit of all.

The character’s modus operandi is part of a recurring theme of escapism in the novel, representing the imaginative and positive effects of escapism in superhero comics as well as Kavalier and Clay’s attempts to escape from the troubles of their past. Joe Kavalier has fled to America from Nazi-occupied Prague in Europe, leaving the rest of his family behind. Unable to help them, he starts fleeing from himself and everyone trying to get close to him. Sam Clay also wants to escape from himself – both his polio-stricken body and repressed homosexuality.

The Escapist’s true identity is Tom Mayflower. He is the crippled nephew of escape artist Max Mayflower (who performs under the stage name of Misterioso). When Max is fatally shot while performing onstage, he reveals that he isn’t his real uncle, having rescued him from a cruel orphanage as a baby. He gives Tom a golden key and a costume, explaining that he was recruited long ago by a mysterious organization called the League of the Golden Key to fight tyranny and free the oppressed. With his dying breath, Max commissions Tom to carry on his work. As long as Tom is wearing the costume and the key, he finds that he is no longer lame of leg and can perform amazing feats of escapology. Tom uses his powers to fight crime under the guise of the Escapist, especially against the evil forces of the mysterious criminal network, the Iron Chain.

To make The Escapist, I used this Animal Man Heroclix as a base miniature. He’s pretty much perfect.

From there, it was an easy paint job, as The Escapist’s costume is a black/grey skintight leotard and a TMNT-style bandanna domino. Not hard.

Although I was happy with the result, he looked somewhat blah, so I added the chains. It’s an actual necklace (worthless, of course) that I clipped and superglued into a pile at his feet. One quick metallic drybrush later, and voila! The Escapist has escaped!

That’s it for Forgotten Heroes 2025. Thanks as always to Jeremy for hosting it. I’ll be making the rounds to everyone’s blog to see their contributions and heap well-deserved praise upon them!

Dead Dick's Tavern and Temporary Lodging

The Angry Piper's miniatures and gaming blog.