Antares: New Colors for the Concord

I had "finished" painting my Concord troops months ago but I was never really that thrilled with them.  The Strike Troopers were okay but once the paint scheme was scaled up to my light support drones and especially the T7 transport... it was just kinda blah.

Then this past weekend I had a bolt of inspiration and so far I'm really liking the change.  Introducing the new colors for the Concord shard of Bastion!

The changes were pretty simple really but I think that they make the model pop more.  The black detailing offsets the light grey nicely and I'm quite happy with how the suspensors turned out.  I might have been aggressive with what I painted up as a suspensor as well but my thoughts are the smaller ones on the fins are for finer control.  Don't know if that was the intention when Warlord designed the model but I like how it looks so I'm gonna run with that.

I've also updated the scheme on the light drones as well.  Again, a very simple change but I think it is much more effective as it makes them more interesting visually.

I still need to go over the grey on these to match it up with the T7 but that should be a quick fix.  Then it's on to the Strike Troopers and weapon crews!  I still need to figure out how exactly I'm going to bring the new scheme across to them but I've got some ideas floating around already, and I'm excited to see how they look!  Until next time...

Random Update: Digging Out Yet Again!

It's been forever since I posted and longer since I've had a chance to hobby!  Argh!!!  I've been slowly making progress cleaning out my office/hobby space yet again so I should be able to start painting again soon.

Thankfully we have been more active with our board gaming recently though, largely because a friend of ours and his girlfriend have been coming over for game nights!  Been a ton of fun breaking out some games that haven't been touched in a while, plus we have been working our way through Betrayal Legacy!

So far we have finished six of the chapters (plus the prologue) and it has been so cool to see the story of the house take shape.  We enjoyed the original but this really makes the whole thing a more organic experience that has been a blast.  There are also aspects that have been added to the game which are providing some cool twists.  For example, as you draw items you might have the option to make them heirlooms for your family which gives you a bonus when you use them.  Then there are background cards that you draw right at the beginning of the game that give your character a unique bonus.  Maybe you are a war veteran, an occultist, or well-to-do.  All of these add to the flavor of the game and more are being added as the story continues.  I can't wait to see what other twists and turns we will run into as we try to unlock all the secrets the house holds, the trick will just be working out way through it before the end of the month.  I see some marathon Betrayal sessions in my future!

I'm also very slowly making some headway with a short campaign using the Frostgrave rules to explore a desert wasteland looking for an ancient treasure.  My daughter and I will be playing this one but I want to incorporate some cooperative elements to it as well.  The wastes are a harsh land after all, and sometimes you need all the help you can get just to survive.

Here is the board for our first scenario, still in progress at the moment.

We talked about incorporating clue markers into this adventure to represent us searching for information to figure out where the final location is, the idea being whoever finds the most clues gets to decide what the next scenario will be.  She likes the idea and I think it will be fun to craft our own campaign story together.

And last but not least, I was able to meet up with a friend of mine at our LGS and play a game of Bolt Action.  I'll admit that Bolt Action isn't my favorite game (I blame Antares for this even though I haven't played it against a live opponent) but it was great to hang out with him and push around some minis.  Of course hilarity ensued as well, with both of us taking a bunch of inexperienced troops and I just had to squeeze Stewie into my force too.  Lots of fun but I think the best moments were when my lieutenant and his minder walked onto the board next to my friends mortar team and gunned them down.  This was followed by the same dastardly duo spraying the truck my target was hiding inside, only to have it go up in flames and letting me pull out a draw on the last turn.  Pure action movie stuff!

Hopefully I can squeeze in some more cleaning this weekend so I can finally get back to painting again.  Wish me luck!  Until next time...