OD's SoB Prep Blog

[Old Dwarf]

10/26/14

Well after a year + of waiting SoB first Wave
will be here in 4 days. So I'm starting my Project
Blog.

Pre-Delivery ,while waiting these many months I
have:

Created some background fluff based on
personal preferences.

-SoB Timeline

-Mine Users Guide

-Solo Set Up Guide

-Modified Mine Users & Solo Set Up
Guides to include just Wave One Core
Set Miniatures & Other Worlds.

Gathered Supplies

- New brushes (regular,detail,super detail)

-Plastic Glue

-Additional War Master paints (mostly Browns
to use for the bases)

-organizing some additional GW/Reaper paints
I already have to add to the 2 Paint Sets
coming with Wave 1. Also getting my clippers
& model files together. Found an unused Tube
of Testors Modeling Putty (great stuff for filling
gaps) & I have some Kraylon Black Primer Spray.

Ordering some Pimping stuff

-Fire Mountain Amethyst Beads for Dark Stone

-XP, Mutation, Money Cards ( Fan Creations ).

Project Room Prep

I am a Hobby Pig, which is why my wife keeps my
Hobby stuff isolated on the 3rd Floors. I'll need to get
things in order as SoB will be a major project
with larger figs & assembly. The last several Projects
have been with 6,10,20mm figs w/o assembly
which I've just handled in my east side paint
room.

Alas my paint room is rather small & filled with
stored Board Games & Miniatures stored in
Cabinets & plastic Shoe boxes. So there isn't
really room to assemble models.

I have an Assembly table in the back of my Game
Room on the west side ( thanks to the High Victorian
sense of whimsy I have 2 3rd Floors & they don't
connect. A 2nd Floor landing has 2 sets of parallel
stairs going up to each Floor) but it hasn't been used
for several years ,not since I finished a GW Lord of
the Rings Miniatures Project. Needless to say
it was filled with cut up bits from conversions &
DUST. So today I cleaned it up to be ready to start
on the figures as soon as SoB arrives. I still need to
rearrange my paint desk to pack up the GW paints
I won't need for the SoB Project.

[Old Dwarf]

10/27/14- My SoB prep today is starting the paint room clean up. I've
gathered up some dried out paint pots & discarded plastic/metal bits
plus old brushes to toss out. The GW & Reaper paints that might be of
use for SoB have been set aside & the other paints sorted by color & boxed.

My painting Table (actually a shelf) is 6' long but as I'm using about 2'
for storage so I have about a 4' space to work with needs a new matt
as the old one is thick in spilled paint & crumpled from water damage.
The whole thing needs a good vacuum to get rid of little blobs of dried paint
& metal dust from filing.

The floor around the paint chair can't be seen for paper towels ,notes
& various modeling tools. So I'll need to clean that out & find a better
place to put several boxes of bases & bits.

I also received the XP Cards I ordered from printer studio so the $ & Mutation
cards should be coming soon.

I think I did enough today just sorting out the paints so I'll continue
tomorrow.

[Old Dwarf]

10/28/14-I hit the Paint Room bright & Early (what a Dump)
I got the old Matt off the paint desk & gave everything a good
dusting & vacuum. I took all the papers (paint wipes,old notes),
dead paint pots & bottle caps I used to mix paint in. Sorted
out the various boxes of extra bits & consolidated them.

Took the tools I'll need to assemble & base the miniatures over
to the assembly desk & then replaced the matt on the paint desk.

So I'm basically ready to go & still 2 days to wait. I was hoping
my mutation & $ Cards would come today ...but they didn't.

I also update the Brimstone Users Guide based on some feed back from Gavin
Downing.

[Old Dwarf]

10/29/14-UPS sent me an e-mail that my Game will be delivered between 10-2 tomorrow.
So I'm just waiting everything is ready to get assembly & painting started.

I checked my War Paints Inks Set & found it included an instruction pamphlet which
seems to indicate you use them full strength. I've used only GW Inks before &
cut them with water otherwise you got a very fake look so I'm not sure how to
handle the War Painter Inks.. guess I'll need to experiment.

[Old Dwarf]

10/30/14-TODAY IS DE DAY!-of course I'm posting this at 9:30 & delivery of SoB is
sometime between 10-2, however my town is rather at the end of the line so UPS
usually delivers in the afternoon. My wife has gone to volunteer at a charity function,
so I'm free to devote myself to unpacking my SoB/MC box when it comes.

I did discover a crimp in my preparation -What I thought was Black Primer wasn't so
I'll need to pick up some. This weekend I'll be assembling & should be ready to base coat
by the start of next week. I want to get that completed ASAP as spray base coat &
cold temp do not mix. I'll continue with my unpacking adventures after SoB arrives.

IT'S Here!! all 23lbs of it & very well packed ,did a quick check & everything appears
to be complete. I also got a signed Art Print that I wasn't expecting (maybe it came
with the MC & I never noticed).

So I'm going to give the figs a mild detergent bath & a scrub with a soft toothbrush
so they be ready to assemble tomorrow then I'm going to check out the Adventure Books
to see how my "Brimstone Mine Users Guide fluff matches up with any FFP background
give.

Also the USPS is suppose to deliver my $ & Mutation Cards that were Fan Created
over at BGG. The guy who did them was also working on Town item Cards but
alas FFP just made him pull them along with the Mutation Cards for violation
of their IP Rights. Bummer but I can see FFP point especially as they were
being sold.

Well off to give the figs a bath.

The bath took just over an Hour & it's a good think my wife won't be back
until later this evening..there are miniatures all over the kitchen.

The $ & mutation Cards also just arrived-too bad FFP put the kabish
on the Mutation Cards they look cool.

PS-I've heard complaints that the miniatures had flash on them but all of
mine did not.

PSS- The Miniatures are about dry so I boxed then up in the carton the
Games were shipped in separated by game so I can start from the top
to assemble tomorrow.

I'm taking this evening to go over the Rule Book & Adventure Books
There is really a massive amount of material.

[Old Dwarf]

10/31/14 -started assembly an hour ago & I have only done the 4 SoD Heroes, 6 Tentacles
& 4 Hungry Dead, this does not include the basing. I do a lot of assembly but these figs are a tad more
difficult than they appear.

I'm not really sure why some of the figs really required separate parts it seems like they could
have made it a single cast but it be what it be.

So far I haven't had much filing no real mold lines *on the figs I've done so far just need
a bit on where they were connected to the holders. The War Paint plastic glue works
well , which helps as getting the arms in place can be a tad fiddley.

* once I started with the Hell Bats , Slashers & Harbringer I did find mold lines
The men's pants on the Hungary dead also have them but nothing major.

Also hold on to the part your clipping out..I clipped off an Hungary dead arm only to have
it sail off my assembly desk ..never to be found again! I looked but nothing I finally
just took the arm of an extra red model. Well back to work ,I want to finish off the
rest of the Hungry Dead before I break again.

3 1/2 hours in all the SoD figs are assembled, The Harbringer is massive I'm letting
it set a bit before adding the legs & wings( the wings look a bit much for just glue so
I have a little plastic cement I'm going to use on them). It does go quicker once
you have done a few. I still need to base the figs.

5 1/2 hours & all the SoD figs are assembled & based. I must say the small feet on the
human types do make basing a chore. The Slashers barely fit on their bases & you really
need to support them until the glue kicks in or they will topple over.

The Harbringer besides being massive is one fig. that could have used assembly
instructions . I found the best way was to glue the head, arms & tail to the
back torso & then glue the front torso piece in place.

Once the glue dries good I'll move them over to my paint room & start on
the City of the Ancients miniatures.

I've started on the Ancient City figs. the 4 Heroes (the gun fighter arms were really fiddley) ,
the Tentacles , Void Spiders are done & I'm working on the Stranglers(##@@@%&&**)
they are bitches!! probably the only figs. so far that I'll need modeling putty to fix up.
There Tentacles & tails have some of the worst connections I ever seen . Taking a break
before I continue on them.

No Mass! it's 5:30 & I'm packing my assembly in for today.I finished up the damn
Stranglers so tomorrow AM I'll do the 3 Night Terrors & the Goalith .
I figure I can base coat Monday.

[Old Dwarf]

11/1/14-got up really early (why do old people do that?) & was thinking about SoB now that I had some time to read
the Adventure Book Materials & Rule Book I wanted to see if any radical changes to my Mine Users Guide & Solo Set
guide were needed. My Timeline is about 12-15 years ahead of Jason's FFP but close enough & as mine has some
bases on actual history I'm keeping my version.

I did find that my 13 Mines had to be expanded to 20 to work in the basic Missions from the Adventure Book so
I reclassified the Mines as Portal, Lair (the old non-portal) & Mundane (Basic Missions from the Adventure Book +
a couple of Fan Missions from BGG). I also made the Hero choice of a starting upgrade a random draw & firmed up
the Solo Rules for just the Wave 1 material.

I'm also still debating over assembling the red variant monsters that appear in the Ancient City & Swamps
(Slashers vs Swamp Slashers, etc. ). On one- hand why would the same fig. change color just because of Location
in another world & it's like 24 more figs. to assemble & paint! Then again you could say they adapted to
the environment & their cool. I wonder if FFP will include other monster from the Core Sets when they
put out the Other Worlds? I will finish assembly on the Core Set figs. Today & by Sunday could
have the additional figs ready (thank God no alternative Strangler figs!!! ) & put off a finial decision
on painting them up.

It's getting cold here in S. Jersey & I'm concerned about getting my Spray base coat done. It works best
at 50 F+ & I'm running out of time. Next week each day has at least a few hours when the Temp. should be ok,
actually Tuesday Afternoon may be the best day. If I miss this window I'll either have to base coat by hand,
wait till Spring or get lucky with an unusual mild day (we've had 65F Christmases).Neither is an option I want.
Once I get things base coated the pressure is off & I can set up a painting schedule.

So another cup of coffee, read the paper, see if my wife has any Honey-Do's & get back to
finishing my Night terrors & the Goalith.

Well assembly started out well enough-I used my Testors Contour Putty (great stuff ,easy to apply, dries hard
& you can sand it. I (mainly used it for filling the gaps in Slotta Bases) filled in a few tentacle gaps on the Stranglers
& The Harbringer had a gap under 1 wing. Then came the Night Terrors (& I thought the Stranglers were a bitch)
They made me work-OK I got stupid & put a couple of feet on backwards but those figs are awkward to put
together. I finally figured out which half of the torso gets the arms before being put together & the feet
all of them needed the pegs clipped down to fit on the legs.

The Goalith Tentacles are big & they really take some holding to fasten them to the half torso but that was the
only iffy part. So all the City of the Ancients grey Figs are assembled this PM I'll base them up. Tomorrow I 'll
fill their gaps with contour putty. I'm aiming for Tuesday to do the base coating.

I like the miniatures but I think some were made unnecessarily cumbersome to assemble & feel sorry for a
Gamer who has no experience with assembling figs.

Nothing like a couple of days spent in a small airless room
with plastic clue & beer chasers...........so mellow Anyway all the figs are assembled including the red
other world Monsters variants ...the Night Terrors are the worst to put together ,the 3 red ones were as difficult
as the previous Grey ones. They are just a bad design (nice fig. but terrible for assembly) even when you get
them right you'll still have gaps.

I based all the Ancient City Heroes & Tentacles but tomorrow I'll need to put some contour putty on the Goalith, &
Night Terrors & then base them. Monday I'll file off any excess putty & that should make them ready for base coating on Tuesday.
The red Slashers also need to be based but I've had enough glue for 1 day.

[Old Dwarf]

11/2/14- Early start again although I didn't mean to- I forgot to set my clocks back an hour when Daylight Savings
ended. I used some contour putty on the 6 Night Terror figs & the Goalith to cover some gaps. Then I filed excess
putty off the Harbringer wing connection & the Stranglers tentacles connections.

Then I based up the Stranglers, the Red Bog-Bats & the Red Swamp Slashers ,the 6 Night Terrors & Goalith
will need to wait for tomorrow after I file off any excess putty before I base them.

The hardest figs to base have been the Slashers they are top heavy & have, for their size, small feet
so you need to support them until the glue takes hold. The easiest figs. that need to be assembled
have been the Hell/Bog Bats the wings & tongue just fit in perfectly ( unlike some of the other figs
where I had to modify the connection pegs to get a good fit) they do however require some filing
to remove mold lines.

So that's about all I can do today for SoB except continue to absorb the Rule / Adventure Books
and check out the tiles & markers sheets which I haven't opened yet. I would love to run a
few test games but really don't want to play until the Miniatures are painted.

It's just my quirk but I don't like to play with unpainted Minatures (of course that hasn't stopped
me from enjoying AToE , Gears of War, BL#2 but there the exceptions-my painting backlog is
endless) nor do I like to proxy figs. I have tons of painted figs but there mostly 6,10,20 mm
strand based figs for Battle Games. I do have a large painted collection of LoTR 25mm figs
& WarHammer Quest figs. so I guess I could proxy-but Frodo with a 6 Shooter sort of pushes
my suspension of disbelief a tad too far.

Just checked out the Tiles & various Table Boards- The Tiles are gorgeous (I don't think pictures
do them justice) I noticed that the KO'd Hero Counters seem to be generic man/woman rather than
showing the actual Hero however they do provide Counters for each Hero.

I came across a Frontier Outpost Board & had a WTF moment! Nothing in the Rule Book but
I checked an Adventure Book & it's covered under selling Black Stone (the Outpost Bank is the
only place you can sell the stuff). The depth of SoB is just beginning to sink in; I find it a bit
like Fortune & Glory nothing is really complicated there's just a lot of things to keep track of
during the game. FFP as usual provides lots of "extra" counters for Home Brew stuff but with
so much in the Game it will probably be awhile before I experiment with them.

[Old Dwarf]

11/3/14-Well I guess Stage 1 is done-all the figs assembled (except for some Red ones I don't need ) ,gaps
filled & based. Just ready to move on to base coating. Today is a little to cold to chance spraying but I can
pick up some Black Kraylon Primer today. Tomorrow is going to be close to 70F which is as good as it's
going to get from now on so I'll do them then.

I've checked out the colors for the Ancient Spiders & the void Spiders & as their basically Grey I have
some Dark primer which I think I'll use then I can just highlight the Ancients in White & the Void in light
Grey.

I mentioned I was puzzled by the Frontier Outpost Table I found in the box but later I realized it's
a location on the Town Board & not a separate place.

Well ,as" they Say about Kansas City, I gone about as far as I can go" with SoB today. I'll finish up
my detailed Rule Book Read ( as I've noted before it's not complicated just a lot of stuff to remember).

[Old Dwarf]

11/4/14- A journey of a thousand paint sessions has begun- Stage 2 Base coating.

The day has warmed up nicely & the basement tool room is warm enough
so let the spraying begin.

The Targa Plateau alternative Monsters (Snow Terrors & Ancient Spiders, )
I'm doing in a dark grey primer (& also doing the regular Void Spiders in this Primer as well)
just because I've found that white paint I'm using on these goes better over a grey primer.
The Stranglers also get this primer as I can just do a little inking for depth & highlight &
the pinkish parts around their mouths are easier with a grey prime rather than black)

I didn't find the Krylon (or Any) flat black primer for plastics at the hardware store a few blocks
from me, so fortunately my wife is out getting her nails done just down the road from a Michaels
so she'll pick me some up .

In another hour I'll need to flip the spiders over to do their
backs & check to see if the spray covered all the Snow Terrors
under parts.

The Spiders have been flipped & the Snow Terrors have their Pits taken care of
so in another hour I can put them in a plastic shoe box & send them up to my
paint room. My wife picked up the primer I need BUT she ran into friends & their
having a late lunch so she won't be home until later so spraying suspended
until she brings me the can. She just doesn't understand SoB is a priority !

Well the late lunch is into dinner territory & I've lost the natural light & my
tool room only has a single light bulb so no more priming today. Tomorrow
is suppose to be warm as well so I'll continue then. The Grey primed figs
are back up to my paint room at least.