Oldenhammer in Toronto

To celebrate Passover 2016, I want to examine an obscure corner of the hobby: the way Citadel miniatures portrayed Jewish characters during its Golden Age in the 1980's. Although this topic may be a little arcane, it opens the door to a larger and more interesting question: how Judaism, Jewish folklore and Jewish magic fit into fantasy worlds like Warhammer, D&D or Call of Cthulhu.

As far as I know, there are only 3 Citadel miniatures from the 1980's that clearly portray Jews... they are pictured above. One is a pretty good portrait, one is a little troubling (although it's hard to blame that on Citadel) and one is downright ugly.

Let's look at each...

The "good" portrayal is The Kabbalist, a 1986 sculpt for Citadel's Gothic Horror Range, which provided characters and NPCs for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. I like this miniature because it mixes elements that are directly evoke an Orthodox Jew (a yarmulke, a prayer shawl, and a long beard) with some generic fantasy accouterments (a potion and a scroll). As a result of this mix, the miniature is recognizably Jewish without being a mere caricature.

Rabbi Cohen from White Dwarf #69

It's nifty that Citadel attempted to portray a Kabbalist at all. A Kabbalist is a practitioner of Jewish mysticism -- traditionally, the study of the Kabbalah was limited to Orthodox Rabbis, who believed that it could be dangerous to minds untrained in all the complexities of the Jewish law. In this sense, a Kabbalist fits in nicely into the world of Call of Cthulhu, since Kabbalah also involves arcane tomes, ancient knowledge, and the risk of insanity.

Indeed, I believe this miniature is based on Rabbi Joshua Cohen, a non-player character from "The Surrey Enigma", a Call of Cthulhu adventure written by Marcus Rowland and published in White Dwarf #69 (Sept. 1985).

This adventure requires the characters to seek the assistance of a group of Orthodox Jews who are hunting a Cthuloid menace lurking in an ancient barrow. Part of the drama in the adventure arises from the fact that the characters might mistake the mysterious Rabbi Cohen and his associates for cultists. Thus the success of the adventures hinges upon the characters learning a little about Kabbalah so that they can trust and be trusted by Cohen (who, as it happens, is a total badass).

Well, as my Passover present to the world, here's a link to the complete text of the Surrey Enigma.

The second miniature I want to look at is Phaygin (1984) from the preslotta C04 Thieves range. Originally, this miniature was called a "Cut Purse" in Citadel's October 1984 Flyer. However, in the Third Citadel Compendium (1985) he was renamed Phaygin. This is a clear reference to Faygin, the Jewish villain from Dickens'Oliver Twist (1839). And indeed, the miniature closely resembles Ron Moody's iconic portrayal of Fagin in the film version of Oliver! (1968).

Ron Moody as Fagin

Dickens described Fagin as a "a very old shrivelled Jew, whose villainous-looking and repulsive face was obscured by a quantity of matted red hair." Dickens hammered home the association between Fagin's depravity and his Jewishness by referring to him constantly as "the Jew" or "the old Jew" throughout the original version of the novel. Indeed, by my count, he called Fagin "the Jew" 319 times. Ugg.

On the upside, when it was pointed out to Dickens that he had strayed into anti-Semitic waters, he did his best to make amends -- for example by re-editing Oliver Twist and later by creating the steadfast Jewish character of Mr. Riah in Our Mutual Friend (1865).

Although Fagin is an ugly character, he's one of the great thieves of literature, so I'm glad that Citadel created this portrait of him.

And that brings us to the last miniature: the Money Lender FS64 (1980). This preslotta miniature is from the earliest days of Citadel and was part of their "Fantasy Specials" Villagers range. This is one stone-cold racist miniature.

With his grotesque nose, slouch, heavy eyes and bag of gold, the Money Lender bears an uncanny resemblance to Nazi propaganda. Even his pose evokes one of the most famous of the Nazi's anti-Semitic posters, "The Eternal Jew". In both this poster and the miniature, the hunched figure holds coins in his outstretched right hand.

The image on the left is from an anti-semitic colouring book (if you look closely enough at the image, you can see that the colour was applied with a child's crayon.) The image on the right is the poster for the "Eternal Jew" art exhibition that we discussed above.

How did such a hideous miniature ever get released? I don't know. I very much doubt that anyone at Citadel in the early 1980's was intentionally hateful. However, it is evident that when they went to sculpt a "money lender" for their range of fantasy villagers, some depressing stereotypes dominated the work. And no one up the line of management caught this boner. No Matzah Ball Soup for you!

Ultimately, what surprises me about these three miniatures is that they exist at all -- and this gets to my larger point about the role of Jews in fantasy worlds. Jewish ideas of magic were extremely influential on Medieval and especially Renaissance occultists. Such ideas include: letters being intrinsically magical shapes/sounds (gemmatria) -- or that the living can be possessed by the spirit of the dead (a dybbuk) -- or that a sage can use true names to gain control over demons and angels -- or that a clay man can be animated by magic spells and come to life (the golem). From Western occultism, these tropes entered fantasy novels, role-playing games and even science fiction.

And yet Jewish people themselves are usually absent from these works. This can be usefully contrasted with some other groups, such as Arabs or Roma/Gypsies, both of whom are so common in fantasy worlds that they are almost stock characters. (And certainly Citadel produced lots of Arabs and Roma miniatures during the 1980's, like the Gypsy and the Saracen for the game Talisman.) Why are Jewish characters so rare? Is it a fear of falling into stereotypes?

What do you think?

Chapter 11 of The Fellowship of the Ring

In this chapter, Strider leads the hobbits into the wilderness in a failed attempt to evade the Black Riders. The chase culminates on Weathertop hill, where Frodo and the Chief of the Ringwraiths stab at each other, with perilous results for the hobbit.

This is an exciting and terrifying chapter -- but it's also important for a more subtle reason: it's the first chapter where Tolkien begins to fragment his narrative: he gives various characters different perspectives on the same events, and delays reconciling these perspectives for the reader until much later in his story. Although this fracturing starts out small, like all cracks, it grows and grows -- until it eventually will divide his story into two separate but devilishly interrelated portions: Frodo's journey on one hand and the war in Rohan and Gondor on the other.

My argument is that this fragmenting of the story creates increasing tension for the reader -- and when Tolkien finally resolves this tension by giving us the full picture, it provides a great measure of the satisfaction we feel when we read The Lord of the Rings.

In "A Knife in the Dark" the fracture begins right away: Tolkien switches perspective to a brief vignette of the the Black Riders invading Buckland and storming Crickhollow. The Shire hobbits blow horns in alarm and the Ringwraiths ride off in search of Frodo. Immediately after this, Tolkien pivots back to Frodo in Bree, whose sleep is troubled by dreams of "galloping hoofs... and far off he heard a horn blowing wildly." This is just a tiny crack: two different perspectives on the onrushing wrath of Mordor.

But the crack will widen. The next break occurs a few days after the heroes strike out into the wilderness and before they've reached Weathertop. One evening, they notice something strange:

As Frodo lay, tired but unable to close his eyes, it seemed to him that far away there came a light in the eastern sky: it flashed and faded many times. It was not the dawn, for that was still some hours off.

‘What is the light?' he said to Strider, who had risen, and was standing, gazing ahead into the night.

'I do not know,' Strider answered. 'It is too distant to make out. It is like lightning that leaps up from the hill-tops.'

Frodo lay down again, but for a long while he could still see the white flashes, and against them the tall dark figure of Strider, standing silent and watchful. At last he passed into uneasy sleep.

(FotR, Book I, Chapter 11)

Tolkien gives us no more information about this lightning until the Council of Elrond, when the reader (and Frodo) both learn that they were caused by Gandalf and his fire magic as he strove to fight off the Black Riders on Weathertop. Gandalf will tell them in Rivendell:

"I galloped to Weathertop like a gale, and I reached it before sundown on my second day from Bree-and they were there before me. They drew away from me, for they felt the coming of my anger and they dared not face it while the Sun was in the sky. But they closed round at night, and I was besieged on the hill-top, in the old ring of Amon Sûl. I was hard put to it indeed: such light and flame cannot have been seen on Weathertop since the war-beacons of old.

"At sunrise I escaped and fled towards the north. I could not hope to do more. It was impossible to find you, Frodo, in the wilderness, and it would have been folly to try with all the Nine at my heels."

(FotR, Book II, Chapter 2)

It's also at this time that we learn that all the while that Strider and Frodo were venturing through the wild hoping to find Gandalf, Gandalf was also looking for them, sometimes just behind them and sometimes just ahead. Although Tolkien largely keeps us in the dark about Gandalf's half of this dance of miscues, he does tantalize us (and Frodo) with hints, like the strange sigil that Gandalf left on Weathertop or Glorfindel's tokens on the Bridge of Mitheithel.

Weathertop Hill (courtesy of LOTRO Wiki)

The drama of this fracture is tremendous. All that Frodo (and the reader) want is to know what happened to Gandalf. And indeed, what reader doesn't crave a description of exactly how Gandalf fought off the Witchking with his magic when they met on Weathertop. And yet this is precisely the information that Tolkien withholds. He teases us, and then ultimately leaves it to our own imagination to tell us what Gandalf's conjuring looked like up close. This is masterful restraint on Tolkien's part.

But my favourite disunion of perspectives comes at the end of this chapter, when Frodo and the Witch King fight each other. This one is easy to miss because in the entire Lord of the Rings, Tolkien only gives us Frodo's perspective on this encounter. But in his personal papers, Tolkien also wrote about the Witch King's understanding of what happened. Go figure... the Witch King was just as scared of Frodo as Frodo was of the Witch King:

He [the Lord of the Nazgul] had been shaken by the fire of Gandalf, and began to perceive that the mission on which Sauron had sent him was one of great peril to himself... the timid and terrified Bearer [Frodo] had resisted him, had dared to strike at him with an enchanted sword made... long ago for his destruction. Narrowly it missed him. How he had come by it -- save in the Barrows of Cardolan. Then he was in some way mightier than the B[arrow]-wight; and he called on Elbereth, a name of terror to the Nazgul...

Escaping a wound that would have been deadly to him as the Mordor-knife to Frodo (as was proved in the end), he withdrew and hid for a while, out of doubt and fear both of Aragorn and especially of Frodo.

[Marquette MSS 4/2/36, "The Hunt for the Ring". The italicsin the quote are Tolkien's.]

In these papers, Tolkien also makes it clear that the Witch King was confused and scared by the fact that it wasn't Aragorn who was bearing the Ring. If this strange creature Baggins had the Ring instead of the mighty Aragorn, it meant that in some way Baggins was even more powerful than the lord of the Dunedain. How's a Nazgul supposed to cope?

How's a Nazgul to cope?

Well, to return to my main point: the fracturing of the narrative starts out small, but it will grow to be one of the defining elements of the book. And just like in this chapter, some of the most interesting perplexing incidents in the trilogy will come when two or more separate narratives intersect: to give a later example, consider when Frodo struggles to remove the Ring on the summit of Amon Hen. The passage is obscure, until much later when we learn that Gandalf the White was striving with Sauron over control of Frodo's will (compare Book II, Chapter 10 for Frodo's perspective on this, and Book III, Chapter 5 for Gandalf's view).

Tolkien's willingness to fragment and overlap his characters' perspectives is a daring and modern approach to structuring a novel, and I'm not sure he gets enough appreciation for it. So, props Professor T.

(Before I leave you, I'll just add that if you enjoy this sort of multiplicity, do yourself a grand favour and read or listen to The Seventh Voyageby the great sci-fi author Stanislas Lem. It's my favourite short story, and is an elegant fugue of conflicting perspectives.)

[Image credit: The Brothers Hildebrandt "The Black Riders" Giclee on Canvas.]

You can find my commentary on Chapter 10 here.

Thanks to everyone who left so many thoughtful comments about my post on Jewish characters in fantasy settings generally (and in Citadel miniatures in particular). Although this was a pretty obscure topic, to my surprise, it turned into one of the most popular posts I've ever written.

There's much to say as a follow-up, but I'm going to limit myself to three quick points.

First , one of the observations that several people made is that Jewish history, language and culture were inspirations for the Dwarves of Middle-earth. It's unclear how intentional this was at the time of writing, but Tolkien himself acknowledged the connection much later. As he said during a 1971 interview:

“I didn’t intend it, but when you’ve got these people on your hands, you’ve got to make them different, haven’t you? The dwarves of course are quite obviously, wouldn’t you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic, obviously, constructed to be Semitic."

One particularly important connection between Dwarves and Jews is the theme of exile. Medieval Jews were defined by their banishment from Israel. And when we encounter the Dwarves in The Hobbit, we also meet them as exiles. Nobles, warriors and great craftsmen are reduced to wandering like tinkers, singing mournfully about their lost home in the Lonely Mountain. But when we come into The Lord of the Rings, we understand that there is a much greater and more painful exile troubling the dwarves: the long banishment from Moria.

By seeing the connection between Dwarvish and Jewish history, we can better appreciate the motivations of a character like Gimli, and his keening for Moria. This connection is also important because it adds another layer of poignancy to the friendship of Gimli and Legolas. I sense in their reconciliation a hidden hope of Tolkien that centuries of strife and mistrust -- in both Europe and in Middle-earth -- can be amended in the wake of horrific war.

As K. Friedman says, they ain't making Jews like Jesus anymore.

The second thing that surprised me about the commentary on my post was that nobody mentioned the Land of Shem invented by Robert E. Howard in his Conan stories. Howard's Hyborean Age has many thinly veiled parallels with our ancient world, notably the association of the Shemites with the ancient Israelites. "Shem" is, after all, the son of Noah who was the legendary progenitor of the Hebrews, Assyrians and others. Howard himself wrote that his ancient Shemites would become our "Arabs, Israelites, and other straighter-featured Semites." (The Hyborean Age, 1936). Straight-featured Semites? Is that a thing?

In any case, Howard's portrayal of the Shemites flirts with well-worn stereotypes (hook noses, a love of money, dishonesty). However, Howard is capable of moving beyond caricature and supplying some memorable Shemish characters. The most important of these is Belit, Queen of the Black Coast: a pirate, a lover of Conan, a savior from beyond the grave, and a possessor of heaving bosoms:

She turned toward Conan, her bosom heaving, her eyes flashing...
She had looped the necklace about her neck, and on her naked white bosom the red clots glimmered darkly...
...he saw the blaze of her dark eyes, the thick cluster of her burnished hair; her bosom heaved, her red lips were parted... (Queen of the Black Coast, 1934)

That'll put steel in your thews.

"Arnold - take this rock!" by Amelia Fink

Finally, I don't want to leave the topic of Jews in fantasy worlds without mentioning Hello from the Magic Tavern. This is a podcast that's broadcast from a tavern called "The Vermillion Minotaur"in the magical land of Foon. The podcast does an excellent job of poking fun at many of the conventions of high fantasy, including the customary absence of Jews. If you haven't listened to Hello from the Magic Tavern, give yourself a treat and start at Episode #1.

Or, you can fast forward to Episode #45 and listen to an interview with the First Jew of Foon. Just remember --- IT IS NOT REAL.

What happens when you release two rabid Banthas into a tiny space-space station? This question, and so many more, are answered in this week's post.

Yes, its time for another battle report for Imperial Assault. I sat down with my friend Nicos to fight out the "Incoming Transmission" scenario, and (more importantly) to see how the new Bantha Rider models perform in a skirmish game.

Your slicers have discovered a small space station whose comm systems receive secret communications from the Kuat Drive Yards. As you approach the space station, an enemy shuttle appears on your scopes. You fire on each other, but you both prove evasive. Sensors indicate the enemy shuttle's carrying whale-sized life signs. WTF? You board the station and prepare to fight...

The map was the Kuat Space Station. My army of Bantha-heavy mercenaries began the action in the blue docking bay. Nicos' force, entirely consisting of Rebel spies, started in the red zone. Each turn, the three relay stations (marked with X's on the map) accrue more victory points -- a player who controls a relay station can activate it in order to collect these points and discard the station.

Kuat Station (courtesy of Ibsh)

The set-up contained no surprises. Both sides divided their teams in 2 parts -- with one half aimed at the Northwest relay station, where the armies were separated from each other by a pair of blast doors. The second half of each army was poised to pour into the rest of space station. The Mercenaries had the first move.

The Mercenary Force: The Bantha Extravagantha

Deployment Cards: Bantha Riders x2; Beast Tamer x2 (attached to each Bantha); Tuskan Raider x2; Nexu; Hired Guns; and Punishing Strike.

Command Cards: Jundland Terror x2, Size Advantage; Survival Instincts; Crush; Ferocity; Roar; Close the Gap; Single Purpose; Celebration; Element of Surprise; Opportunistic; Rally; Take Initiative; and Urgency.

Wildlife crowds the Mercenary's docking bay

Strategy: I'm not sure I can dignify my approach with the term "strategy". I would rush my opponents with the Bantha and use stampede and trample to mash them into pudding. To assist this, I could exploit the many command cards that enhance creatures (and especially Bantha Riders). Finally, my Tuskan Raiders would throw their Gaffi Sticks around, applying weaken or (with the help of Punishing Strike) stun.

(N.B. I realize now that I should have only had one Beast Tamer , since it is a unique Deployment Card. Oops. Thankfully, my easy-going opponent didn't protest. In any event, the 2nd Beast Tamer was not in much use.)

The Rebel Force: I Spy You

Deployment Cards: Leia Organa; Combat Suit (attached to Leia); Verena Talos; Loku Kanoloa; Mak Eshka'rey; C-3PO; Rebel Saboteur x2; Targetting Computer x2 (attached to each Rebel Saboteur); and Rebel High Command.

Command Cards: Hide in Plain Sight; Master Operative; Heart of Freedom; Slippery Target; Stealth Tactics; Recovery; Coordinated Attack; Hit and Run; Self Defense; Deadeye; Element of Surprise; Hard to Hit; Take Cover; and Urgency.

Princess Leia prepares to lead from the Rebel's centre

Strategy: Despite it's strong theme (i.e. all spies) this is a well-balanced force. Verena and the Saboteurs hit hard up close, while Mak and Loku snipe from a distance. Everyone (except C-3PO) can benefit from command cards like Hide in Plain Sight and Slippery Target, making this strike-team exceptionally good on defence as well. The key is to keep mobile, and to get lots of use out of Leia's Battlefield Leadership ability.

Turn 1: Banthageddon

The game started off slow, with both parties tentatively sending out skirmishers through the halls of Kuat station, hoping to draw their opponents out. C-3PO ambled forward, oblivious to the Hired Guns fanning out around him. Meanwhile, the Rebels deployed their snipers into shadowy corners, hoping to wreak havoc next turn.

C-3PO takes point

The Mercenary's Nexu stalked into the med-bay along the South wall, hoping to catch an isolated Rebel.

Death in the glow of the Bacta Tanks

Only toward the end of the round did things begin to hot up. The Rebels opened their blast door. On each flank, their Saboteurs almost incinerated some Tuskan Raiders, but in both cases their attacks missed because of long range.

...But that was only the beginning of the Rebel's woes. The Banthas were getting restless.

"What's behind this door?"

The first Bantha Rider (the green one) charged at Verena Talos and her team of Saboteurs in the Northwest corner. He stampeded and stomped one Saboteur into jelly, and left Verena mortally wounded. And then the second Bantha (the red one) surged out towards the centre of the station. Spurred by his Beast Tamer, he covered a tremendous distance, crashing into Leia and Mak and injuring both. Mak used Slippery Target to back away, but how to escape from such a big monster in such a small station?

A Bantha gores Princess Leia

Just as the 1st turn seemed about to end, things got even worse. I was lucky enough to draw both copies of Jundland Terror for my initial hand of Command Cards. This deadly card allows a Bantha to take a move and then perform an extra action/attack at the end of the round. Why not use them both, one on each Bantha?

Threepio, Mak and Loku meet a hairy end

Thus Verena Talos was hit again -- but worst of all, the red Bantha now had a clear path to plow into C-3PO, Mak and Loku. Using his Stampede ability, he sat on all three heroes of the Rebellion, ignominiously killing them with his great shaggy buttocks.

Turn 2: That's No Way to Die

The second turn was over quickly. The Rebels, who now had initiative, tried to save Leia. She activated early, frying the Nexu and trying to back away to safety. But the red Bantha Rider, impelled by the Beast Tamer, gave chase, crushing Leia to death against a wall of the space station. After that, the rider still had the wherewithal to shoot and kill a surviving Mon Calamari Saboteur. Meanwhile, his mate, the green Bantha ran down Verena.

Such an ugly end for two beautiful heroes.

Verena Talos fights to the bitter end

At this point, we called it. We've seen some one-sided games of Imperial Assault, but this was the worst. Besides losing the Nexu and one Tuskan Raider, the Mercenaries were almost unharmed and had access to 2 of the 3 relay stations. The Rebels, on the other hand, were Bantha Fodder.

Reflections

When I fielded two Bantha Riders, I had no idea they would be so deadly. They have great speed, a decent long-range attack and tonnes of staying power -- plus a devastating range of abilities in close combat. The narrow confines of the Kuat Station made this combination irresistible. And all for only 9 points!

We are left with the question: what beats a Bantha Rider? Or worse, what beats 2 Bantha Riders? Darth Vader? An AT-ST? A tribe of Wookie Warriors? I have a sense that Nicos and I will find out soon...

In our last skirmish for Star Wars Imperial Assault, my friend Nicos and I were amazed by the destructive power of the Bantha Rider (RIP Princess Leia). But was it unbeatable? We set up another game to find out. Instead of our usual goofy and thematic games, we took the gloves off and decided we'd try to make our armies as deadly as possible.

All we needed was the right scenario...

And so the scenario we drew was "The Art of Robotics" from the Wookiee Warriors Ally Pack. Which side would triumph by exploiting secret cybernetic technology?

The map contained two Droid Prototypes (signified in our game by two Assassin Droids). At the end of each turn, controlling one of these Prototypes was worth a whopping 8 points. And, a player who controlled a Terminal would be able to move each Prototype up to 4 spaces. In other words, this was a scenario where control and position would generate a lot of Victory Points.

Development Facility (courtesy of Ibsh)

The Mercenaries set up in the blue zone, and the Rebels in the red. We were separated in the Northwest Corner by only a couple doors, but to the Southeast lay the valuable Droid Prototypes -- who could get there first?

The Mercenary Force: Banthakrieg!

Deployment Cards: Bantha Riders x2; Beast Tamer (attached to one Bantha); Boba Fett; Nexu; and Hired Guns.

Command Cards: Celebration, Crush, Element of Surprise, Ferocity, Jundland Terror x2, Mandalorian Tactics, Opportunistic, Rally, Roar, Set a Trap, Size Advantage; Survival Instincts; Take Initiative, and Urgency.

"I will have my army of unstoppable Bantha Cyborgs!"

Strategy: The two deadliest resources available to a Mercenary player are Boba Fett and the Bantha Riders. So why not combine them? After all, they are oddly compatible. Both are alarmingly fast, rushing far head most other units. But they're also durable and damaging. My strategy was to soften up my opponent's toughest units with the charging Banthas. Then Boba (and the Nexu) could swoop in and prey upon the most wounded. It would be a blitzkrieg, but with water-buffaloes instead of tanks.

The Rebel Force: Gaarkhan and his Wooks

Deployment Cards: Gaarkhan, Wookiee Warriors x4.

Command Cards: Adrenaline, Counter Attack, Cripple, Furious Charge, Hard to Hit, Pummel x2, Rally, Recovery, Roar, Self-Defense, Take Cover, Urgency, Wookiee Rage x2.

So much Wookiee in such a small space.

Strategy: General Patton said "A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." With 9 rampaging Wookiees, the Rebel plan was all about violent execution. The Wookiees would charge hard and mince up anything that got in their way. However, to avoid having his Wookiees crushed en masse by the Banthas, Nicos tried to space out their attack, spreading his warriors out and dividing my own forces.

I honestly don't know how -- in a straight up fight -- anything in Imperial Assault can stand up to an army like this one. It's a matter of arithmetic. These 9 Wookiees have a combined health of 98. They can roll up to 18 attack dice on any given turn, including 9 of the deadly red dice.

By way of comparison, my force has a total of 65 health -- which is normally quite good -- and rolls 13 attack dice.

However, one of the great things about Imperial Assault is that it's not a simple slugfest, as this mission will show...

Turn 1: First Blood

Hired Guns always get the worst jobs. In this case, they were given the task of seizing and holding the central Terminal in the face of the onrushing Wookiees. No probs.

What could possibly go wrong? By the way, have you heard from Greedo lately?

The Rebels were not far behind. While Boba Fett wounded a Wookiee Warrior with a long-distance shot, Gaarkhan used his Charge ability to rush the nearest Hired Gun and decapitate him.

"Why do I keep taking these shit jobs?"

In the northwest corner, both the Wookies and the green Bantha Rider hesitated about attacking each other, thus leaving one Terminal unclaimed. But the Terminal in the centre of the board was possessed by Gaarkhan. Was possessed... until the red Bantha came barreling down the hall, shoving Gaarkhan out of the way and taking the Terminal. This allowed the Mercenaries to move and control one of the Droid Prototypes, generating an early lead.

Mercenaries: 8 points.
Rebels: 0 points.

Turn 2: The Fur Flies

In the Northwest corner, some Wookiee Warriors attempted to take control of a Terminal -- but the green Bantha, emulating his red companion, simply pushed the Wookiees out of the way and sat on the Terminal, preventing any Rebel from accessing it. Meanwhile, the red Bantha rammed into Gaarkhan and his companions, killing Gaarkhan in a bloody stampede.

I love the smell of Bantha in the morning

But even as the red Bantha charged, a pack of Wookiees were slashing and stabbing at it. Ultimately, their furious attack took its toll and the great beast listed, groaned and fell, like a battleship heaving to the bottom of the ocean.

However, by occupying the bulk of the Wookiees, the Banthas allowed the Mercenaries to retain control of both Terminals and one Droid Prototype, garnering another 8 points for Boba Fett.

Mercenaries: 24 points
Rebels: 10 points

Turn 3: Red in Tooth and Claw

Although the Mercenaries had a commanding lead in the points, they were now grievously out-numbered in the centre of the board. One Prototype Droid was in Rebel hands and would be impossible to dislodge. To make matters worse, in the northeast corner, three Wookiee Warriors were finally able to bring down their big game prize.

Aren't Banthas an endangered species?

The Mercenaries had only 3 models left: Fett, the Nexu and one Hired Gun. Reluctantly, Fett abandoned the idea of killing the swarming Wookiees and concentrated instead on controlling the one remaining Prototype Droid that was still in play. By barricading himself in a corner with the Nexu, the Rebels had no way of getting it. It was now a race to 40 points.

Guarded by the Nexu, Boba Fett plunders the Prototype Droid

Mercenaries: 32 points
Rebels: 27 points

Turn 4: So Close and So Far...

Now the climax. The mass of Wookiees dominated the Terminals and could count on getting control of both Prototypes at the end of the round. Nevertheless, if the Mercenaries could earn 8 points by killing one or maybe two Wookiees, they would instantly win the game. Everything was coming down to one desperate push.

Suddenly, the Rebels changed the entire complexion of the game by playing the Adrenaline command card, giving each Wookiee 5 additional health for the entire turn. Now killing these hairy bastards would be nearly impossible during this, the last turn of the game.

The Final Messy Melee

Undaunted, Boba Fett pounced on one Wookiee, slaying him with such extreme prejudice that not even Adrenaline could save him. Meanwhile, the last Hired Gun was killed, but not before mortally wounding another Wookiee. Although this Parting Shot wasn't enough to overcome the Adrenaline, it would give the Mercenaries a victory at the beginning of the next turn (when the Adrenaline wore off). In other words, the Mercenaries had triumphed, unless the Rebels could somehow win the game first.

And there was only one way to do this: the Wookiees must kill the Nexu. An not just any Nexu. An unharmed, nay, even frisky Nexu. And against the odds, that's exactly what they did. With a couple of powerful slashes, two Wookies Warriors slew the Nexu. Along with control of a Prototype, that was enough for a stunning, come-from-behind Rebel triumph.

Mercenaries: 32 points
Rebels: 45 points

Reflections

This was, hands down, the best game of Imperial Assault that I've played. Up until the last turn, it was unclear who would win, or how it would happen. More importantly, the pack of Wookiees baiting and bleeding their huge prey is an image I'll savour for many weeks.

What surprised me most was how close the Wookies came to losing the game. Although they were (by far) militarily superior to the Mercenaries, strength is not enough in Imperial Assault. Control of objectives and Terminals is vital -- and the Banthas's ability to (literally) sit on a Terminal, denying all other figures any access to it, is a potent strategic tool.

Equally impressive was Boba Fett. He is so fast and so defensive, Nicos made the painful strategic decision to simply leave him alone -- it was too costly to try to kill him. Ultimately, I think this masterful act of restraint was what won the Rebels the game. And indeed, Fett was completely unharmed by the end. Well, that's all to the good. He'll take this defeat in stride. He won't make the same mistake again. He won't go... a Bantha too far.

I've just painted over 100 pieces of scenery for Star Wars Imperial Assault. And I'm tired. CombatZone Scenery, a company in the UK, produces a beautiful line of terrain tailored for the game. Rendered in heavy casting plaster, the pieces reproduce the 2-dimensional features printed on the map-tiles, as well as other items like control consoles and supply crates.

Terrain is central to achieving an authentic Star Wars feel... what is Tatooine without the lonely moisture vaporators, or a Rebel base without glowing tactical screens? So I'm happy that there's a way of bringing these places to life in 3 dimensions. The only problem is the cost in money and time. Buying and shipping all this terrain cost me almost $250 Canadian -- and then it was about 7 weeks of intense painting. That's a long time to spend painting crates and snowbanks.

But, in the end, it's worth it. One of my recurring themes is that Imperial Assault is a game that straddles a borderland between board games and proper war-games. A key difference between these two categories is a board game is ready to play out of the box, but a war-game only becomes playable after a long labour of love: collecting the miniatures, imagining the armies, customizing the models, assembling the terrain, planning, painting and presenting.

I've always wanted a proper Star Wars war-game -- one with broad horizons for the hobbyist in me. I suppose Fantasy Flight Games made their game a little bit too structured and a little bit too easy for my tastes. Well, screw them. I'll keep on finding new ways to make Imperial Assault costly and time-consuming.

Thanks for looking. And don't forget: if you like Imperial Assault, I have galleries of the complete painted miniatures for the Rebels, Imperials and Mercenaries.

Behold painted miniatures of Lando Calrissian, Bossk, Agent Blaise and the ISB Infiltrators. They come from the Ally and Villain packs that were released in conjunction with The Bespin Gambit, the latest expansion for Star Wars Imperial Assault.

"You look absolutely beautiful."

Props to Gary Storkamp, the sculptor of Lando Calrissian. Rather than modernizing Lando, he's preserved several key features of Billy Dean William's character that are thoroughly dated to the 1980's: his high waist, his pirate shirt, and especially his magnificent Jheri Curls.

But when it came to painting Lando, I had my own challenges. One was to capture the baby blue of his blouse, or the soft caramel of his skin tone. But the most important element of Calrissian's appearance is the lining of his cape. This gold/green paisley is what gives Lando his flare and style. Without capturing the lining, this miniature would be a nullity. So I worked hard to create the impression, if not the replica, of this complex pattern.

Lando Calrissian, FFG Imperial Assault (sculpted by G. Storkamp, 2016)

The sculptors of Imperial Assault have been methodically ticking off all the staple poses of the villain. We have the Evil Pointing, the Sinister Hand Clasp, and the Karate Chop. Thankfully, we now have Agent Blaise with a classic Fist Shake. Nothing says, "I'll get you one day, you stupid heroes!" more eloquently than vibrating your fist in the air. And we know that Agent Blaise is an old pro, because he knows to take off his helmet before trying this maneuver. How else will the Rebels know that you're grimacing?

Agent Blaise, FFG Imperial Assault (sculpted by D. Ferreira, 2016)

I've given Agent Blaise a little grey at the temples. I'm pretty sure that only an age-addled person would opt for a fist shake, rather than using the large sniper rifle he's holding in his other hand.

ISB Infiltrators

Thankfully, Old Man Blaise is accompanied by the ISB Infiltrators. Since the ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) is the Gestapo of the Empire, I tried to make these troopers as Aryan as possible. But it was not clear from Fantasy Flight Game's card art whether these miniatures are supposed to be wearing actual purple armour, or whether they're in the standard whites of the Stormtrooper that's been artistically tinted by dim light. I decided to go for a purple-blue armour -- it seems better suited to their covert operations -- and marks them out as special badasses.

But because I like hedging my bets, I couldn't help myself from kit-bashing some ISB variants. Using Scout Trooper heads and backpacks from some old WotC miniatures, I created a couple elite Infiltrators with traditional white armour and helmets. They're in perfect camouflage for a commando raid on a chessboard or zebra sanctuary!

These scouts join some of my other conversions, like the Mon Calamari Saboteurs, the Aqualish Hired Guns and the Gran Rebel Smuggler.

ISB Infiltrators (conversion), FFG Imperial Assault (sculpted by D. Ferreira, 2016)

Finally, there's Bossk. I loved painting this cold-blooded bounty hunter. His palate (yellow, yellow-green and white) is as simple as a flag but completely arresting. He's a perfect encapsulation of the Star Wars aesthetic: simplicity and strangeness in equal parts. But the thing that gives me most pleasure is that sculptor Gary Storkamp resisted the temptation to make Bossk look like he's growling. Instead, he's maintained the disquieting reptilian smile that marked out Bossk during his cameo in The Empire Strikes Back.

Bossk, FFG Imperial Assault (sculpted by G. Storkamp, 2016)

Stay tuned for pictures of the rest of the miniatures from The Bespin Gambit in the next few days! And if you've painted any of these miniatures, please let me know in the comments.

Here are all the painted miniatures from The Bespin Gambitboxed set, the latest expansion for Star Wars Imperial Assault: we have the heroes Davith Elso and Murne Rin, plus the Bespin Wing Guard and Ugnaughts. Last week, I posted pictures of all the associated Hero and Villain Packs, like Lando Calrissian.

Between Lando, Davith, Murne, the Wing Guard and even the Ugnaughts, there are so many variations of blue. I hope it creates a sense of unity for the Bespin miniatures.

On first glance, I wasn't enthused about Murne Rin. She is supposed to be a diplomat of the Ithorian race. The original miniature, however, is an ugly mess of contradictions. Is she an action hero wearing a frilly prom dress? An ambassador brandishing a firearm? I decided to clean up the miniature with a few quick alterations. I cut away her over-sized wizard's staff, and substituted a simple rod of office. Then I ditched her blaster and replaced it with a gesturing hand -- after all, in Imperial Assault Murne's abilities are all about her diplomatic powers, not her sharpshooting. Although her frock is still a little ridiculous, now I'm much happier with the miniature.

Davith Elso

Davith Elso is a much better designed miniature -- this young Jedi's crouching pose carries tremendous action and personality. It also telegraphs his in-game abilities based on concealment and stealth. I think this is one of the best original sculpts that Imperial Assault has produced. I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays in the game.

I'm a little confused by the Ugnaughts. I'm glad that these little blighters have been included in Bespin because they're a key part of the Bespin vibe. I painted my regular Ugnaughts in the same colour scheme as the old Kenner action figures -- it's my conservative nature.

But I find these Oompa-Loompas aggravating because their main in-game power consists of creating "junk droids" that can be used as distracting fodder. Good and well -- but why is there no miniature for the junk droid? There's a little cardboard marker in the box... but only one, even though there are three Ugnaughts. It feels slapdash.

Painted Ugnaught Miniature, FFG Imperial Assault (2016)

Regular Ugnaught

Painted Ugnaught Elite, FFG Imperial Assault (2016)

Elite Ugnaught

I decided to make my own Junk Droid, using some of the robots from the old range of Galacta miniatures originally sculpted by Heritage Miniatures in the late 1970's and currently produced by Classic Miniatures. I love Galacta and am looking forward to painting more of the models when I get some time. They were an early knock-off of Star Wars, so it's only appropriate to enlist them for Imperial Assault.

My junk droid is a Security Bot from the "Galactic Rebellion" paint-and-play boxed set.

Junk Droid Miniature for Imperial Assault

A Junk Droid with mild dermatitis

Before there was 40K, there was GALACTA!

Finally, there's the Bespin Wing Guard. Like the Ugnaughts, they are well-sculpted and detailed, and will certainly help to create the atmosphere of Cloud City. I like their understated uniforms, with the gold piping and the red cuffs. Sometimes simple is best -- they were fun and easy to paint.

Painted Bespin Wing Guard Miniatures, FFG Imperial Assault (2016)

Bespin Wing Guard Regulars

Elite Bespin Wing Guard

Well, if you want more Imperial Assault, check out these galleries of the complete painted miniatures for...

The Rebels...
The Imperials...
And the Mercenaries.

In the last couple months I've gotten a couple questions about how I take pictures of my miniatures. For me, learning about miniature photography has been one of the best things about starting this website and participating in our hobby's online community. In my view, shooting miniatures is as creative an act as painting miniatures, with some hobbyists transforming it into a veritable art form. Some of my favourites include:

Allison M. at The Painting Agency. Although capable of clean photos with simple backgrounds, Allison also produces stunning dioramas with dramatic backdrops -- these pics really heighten the senses of adventure that's such a big part of his miniatures.
Orlygg at Realm of Chaos 80's. The grand-daddy of Oldhammer has self consciously emulated the staging of the miniature photography in Warhammer 3rd edition: lots of depth, lots of detail and lots of reindeer moss! It's like he's got a time machine going right back to 1985.
Carlos at Oldhammer Spain also conjures up the authentic Oldhammer feeling with beautiful mini-dioramas. But Carlos has perfected the close-up, allowing us to appreciate an amazing amount of detail on each miniature.
Private W. at The Privates Eternal. He is the undisputed master of combining wargames, natural light and natural scenery. His backyard seems like Wonderland to me.
And then there's Barks at Wargaming with Barks. His comic-book style elevates miniature photography/battle reporting to a new level of pop art. I could stare at his work for hours.

I -- of course -- have a different approach to any of these gentlemen...

And I guess that's the first part of miniature photography: you have to decide what you mean to accomplish. Although I experimented early on with photos that place my miniatures in the context of the games, I realized that what I really wanted was a clean, distinctive and uncluttered look for my photos. I wanted something that mirrored a clean, distinctive and uncluttered blog. My aim is to make the miniature (and the paint job) as "readable" as possible. In this sense, I'm similar (if inferior) to artists like Stro'knor at Quindias Studios or Jinnai at the Realm of Jinnai. Like them, I focus my photography on the miniature itself, not on the flavour of the underlying game.

The Ghoul (1985) from the Talisman Range, sculpted by Aly Morrison

Well, enough about philosophy - let's discuss practicalities. The number one requirement for miniature photography isn't the camera, or the background. You need light. Lots and lots of light. Natural light (outdoors on a slightly overcast day) can produced marvelous effect. I still remember a magic day when I took a series of photos in my backyard of my Wild West town. However, because I wanted more consistency and reliability in my photos, I ultimately opted for indoor photography using a light box. I won't dwell too long on this topic because I've already written about the Foldio Light Box that I use for my shots. Almost 2 years on, I'm still happy with it, although I'm looking forward to the arrival of the new (and larger) model, which will help me take photos of bigger units and "360 degree images".

I also use a Flotone Blue Jay graduated photographic background on all my shots. These backgrounds are huge, poster sized sheets, so obviously you have to cut them up to fit inside your light box. I've also written about this fantastic product, and I will just emphasize that it's incredible how the colour of the background alters the appearance of the miniature. If my miniatures seem brightly coloured (or if they seem to have a strong cel-shaded look), I think at least part of the praise/blame can be laid at the feet of all my lights working in conjunction with the Flotone.

I don't own a camera. All I've ever used is my Samsung Galaxy s. 4 smartphone. So I don't think an expensive camera is necessary. But I have given a terrible amount of time to thinking about tripods, experimenting with half-a-dozen before settling on this cheap tripod and bluetooth shutter control purchased on eBay. The tripod is all important because the position of your camera changes the perception of your miniature.

I like very close shots, which Smartphones pull off with alarming ability. Usually, only about 1-3 inches separate the miniature from the lens. The positive side of close-ups is that you attain a very high resolution to your images. This captures a lot of detail on the figure, right down to individual brush strokes. But there are several downsides: very small flaws in the painting a glaringly obvious. Even specks of dust that are invisible to the naked eye flare on the miniature like stars emerging from the evening sky. And finally, when your lens is that close to the miniature, you have an extremely narrow depth of field (i.e. you have a narrow band where things will be in focus). This means that if a particular miniature is throwing one hand behind him, that hand may not be as sharply in focus as the miniature's face because of the difference in their distance from the lens.

Of course, sometimes a narrow depth of field can produce dramatic effects, like in this photo of my orc baggage train:

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to position the camera. If you want your miniature to look like it will on the gaming table, it's best to shoot them from a higher angle, since this is how the players see them. Personally, I want the viewers to see my miniatures as I see them while I paint them, so I shoot them at a low angle. I also think this adds a sense of life to the miniature, since this is the perspective at which we all view each other in the real world.

For some miniatures, I angle the camera almost below level to make them seem more threatening or heroic, like this shot of Han Solo:

And then there is post-production. In order to achieve a clean, uniform look, I generally crop my photos to a 3x5 ratio. For many shots, I use Photoshop's Photomerge Panorama function to give both the front and back of a miniature in one frame -- this is part of my quest for a highly readable image that other hobbyists can use as a reference tool for their own work. (It took dozens and dozens of hours to create these duplex images when I assembled my galleries of all the Talisman miniatures, so I hope you lot appreciated it!)

For the sake of maintaining a high resolution, it's generally a good idea to let the miniature fill as much of the image as possible. Sometimes however, it can be fun to play with composition. Every once in a while, I enjoy expanding the negative space in the frame in order to accentuate the silhouette of a particularly dynamic miniature. For example, here's Han again, spinning to shoot at someone that the viewer can't see:

So that's how Oldhammer in Toronto does it. Please share your own photo tips, or feel free to ask any questions in the comments. Cheers!

Loyal readers will have noticed that I've been silent for a few weeks. That's because I was in Wales on vacation with Mrs. Oldenhammer plus two of my best friends (two composers from New York). The main purpose of our trip was to walk the coastal path that circles the Isle of Anglesey. However, as usual, I couldn't help but view certain aspects of the journey through the eyes of a wargamer.

My wargaming self first came to life when I was in transit in London before heading out for Wales. We stopped by the Tate Modern and I saw a work of modern art that seemed more like a gaming table than anything else.

This is Untitled (Ghardaïa), 2009 by the French artist Kader Attia (born 1970). It represents a scale model of the ancient city Ghardaïa in the M’zab Valley in Algeria. Interestingly, the "sand" on the table is made out of couscous -- a choice of materials that's both original and delicious. The buildings, on the other hand, seem to be carved from the light foam blocks and hemispheres that you can find in any craft store.

As a model, it's a pretty simple affair -- I think any modeler worth his salt could have banged together a much more arresting portrayal of this city. But, of course, the Tate doesn't feature wargaming tables. Works like this always make me wish that there was more interchange between the world of hobbyists and the world of "high art". Professional artists like Attia sometimes scrape the surface of miniature painting and model making, but their techniques are generally primitive. And, on the flipside of the coin, truly talented modelers/miniature painters rarely break out into the mainstream art world. Nick Bibby, who started out sculpting for Citadel in the 1980's and is now a celebrated fine artist, is the only exception that memory can dredge. Wouldn't you like to see someone like Jess Rich in an art gallery?

Well, on to Wales!

Above is the map I drew of our journey while on the plane back to Toronto. It is entirely from memory and therefore insults the actual geography of the island quite a bit. But you can make out the various pubs where we slept and drank: the Liverpool Arms, the Black Lion, the Penrhos Arms, the Prince Llewelyn, et cetera.

Beaumaris Castle

Perhaps the most exciting part of the trip for me was visiting Beaumaris Castle. This was the most castley castle that I've ever seen. Concentric walls? Check. Symmetrical design? Check. Moat? Check. Gatehouse? Check. Perhaps the most striking thing about Beaumaris Castle is that it's built on perfectly level ground, giving it the crisp appearance of a floor-plan or a game of Stronghold. In sum, it looks like the archetypal castle that you saw in drawings but never seemed to find in reality.

A tight fit at Beaumaris

Walking inside the walls of Beaumaris seemed to conjure up every dungeon and castle adventure I've ever played in D&D and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. The one thing that truly struck me is how narrow the passages inside a castle really are. It would be impossible for two men to fight abreast, to maneuver or to even to run. So figure out your marching order!

Another wonderful site was Penmon Priory: a small medieval monastary that seems primed for a game of Saga (Indeed, it was burned by Vikings in 971 ce).

While exploring the church, I ran across the banner photographed below. To me, it looks like a great inspiration for a battle standard. It's worth noting, however that the Welsh inscription "Undeb Y Mamau" means "Mother's Union". Take that, you Viking Bastards - the mummies are coming for you!

A banner from Penmon Priory

Anglesey is a place of such supernatural beauty that it seems to be a fantasy world unto itself. The vegetation is so lush that it glows green. Standing stones, ruins, towers and ancient churches are everywhere. This visit will fuel my imagination for a long time to come.

You want more scenery for Imperial Assault? Well, since I've painted 100+ pieces of terrain, let me fill your boots.

One of the things that impressed me as I painted dozens of boxes, containers and consoles is the attention to detail -- both on the part of the designers of Imperial Assault, and by extension, the modelers at CombatZone Scenery. For instance, take the humble supply crate. This staple of the game is always filled with helpful supplies -- medpacks, weapons, or secret intel. Above we see my painted version.

And here we see a screenshot from Star Wars Rebels, with almost the same crate (also filled with helpful supplies). This frame comes from one of the earliest episodes ("Droids in Distress"), which aired only a couple months before Imperial Assault was released in late 2014. Now that's coordination.

This attention to detail is one of the things that makes Imperial Assault (and for that matter, Rebels) enjoyable. Notwithstanding any other faults, they both capture the authentic Star Wars aesthetic -- the wordless power of Tie Fighters in flight, of the shadow cast by a Star Destroyer, or the kindling of a lightsaber. In painting all this terrain, I've been trying to pursue that aesthetic too...

Painted Imperial Assault Scenery Wampa Cave

Painted Imperial Assault Scenery Destroyed DF.9 Turret

Painted Imperial Assault Scenery Cantina

You can see some of this terrain in action in my recent Imperial Assault Battle Reports: The Bantha Strikes Back and A Bantha Too Far (and this last battle report was recently republished by the wargame magazine The Golden D6. So check out that too!)

Thanks for looking!

I just finished painting the miniatures of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Greedo and the Grand Inquisitor -- the latest release for Star Wars Imperial Assault. I particularly enjoyed painting this trio not only because they are some of my favourite characters, but also because their appearance is a sign that Fantasy Flight Games is steering their Star Wars gaming juggernaut into the right direction.

Let's start with Greedo, the bounty hunter that Han Solo peremptorily shoots at the beginning of A New Hope. But Greedo is so much more than that -- for Star Wars grognards like myself, Greedo symbolizes everything that went wrong with the franchise during George Lucas' second infancy. In 1997 George famously altered the scene with Greedo to show that he tried to shoot Han before Han shot him. This change was meant to recast Han as good-hearted from the very beginning of the trilogy but ultimately it waters down his character and flattens the arc spanning Han's journey from rogue to hero.

In designing Greedo for Imperial Assault, Fantasy Flight Games seems to have taken sides in this controversy. His central characteristic is that he is "Slow on the Draw", which gives any of Greedo's targets the opportunity to fire at Greedo first. Even his miniature shows him fumbling to get his blaster out of its holster. This is not Lucas' Greedo 2.0 (fast but with bad aim), but the original 1977 Greedo (slow and dead). Since Disney/Lucasfilm thoroughly vets all these gaming products (there are entries for "Licensing Specialist", "Licensing Manager" and "Lucasfilm Approvals" in the long list of credits for each miniature), I'd like to think that this creative choice is part of a broader trend toward conveniently forgetting the worst of George Lucas' blunders.

Anyway, look at Greedo's big blue eyes. He's like Bambi. Everyone wants to shoot him.

Greedo, FFG Imperial Assault (2016, sculpted by G. Storkamp)

I was also pleased to see that Fantasy Flight Games released a miniature for Obi-Wan Kenobi. The original conception of Imperial Assault was that it would be defined by set time periods. The "core" period is the 3 years between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. The downside to such specificity is that it limited the range of miniatures. For example, Ben Kenobi had already shuffled off his mortal coil by this point in the story. So for a long time I despaired of ever seeing a miniature for Space Gandalf.

But with the release of these figure packs, FFG has signaled that it's become more flexible. For my part, I couldn't be more pleased. I'd like to see as wide a range of Star Wars miniatures as possible, and I don't give a toss about time periods.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, FFG Imperial Assault (2016, sculpted by G. Storkamp)

And then there's the Grand Inquisitor, a character that originated with the animated show Star Wars Rebels. Well, sort of. In my mind, the true Grand Inquisitor is a character in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov (1879). In some ways, the characters aren't so different. In the Bros. K., the Grand Inquisitor is a medieval cardinal who, upon discovering that Christ has returned and is preaching to the poor of Seville, has him locked up as hindering the true work of the Church:

He is an old man, almost ninety, tall and erect, with a withered face and sunken eyes, in which there is still a gleam of light...at this moment he is wearing his coarse, old, monk's cassock... He knits his thick gray brows and his eyes gleam with a sinister fire. (Book V, Chapter 5)

He reveals to the imprisoned Messiah that the Church had long ago stopped serving him and was instead serving Satan:

We are not working with Thee, but with him—that is our mystery... We took from him Rome and the sword of Caesar, and proclaimed ourselves sole rulers of the earth, though hitherto we have not been able to complete our work... uniting all in one unanimous and harmonious ant-heap, for the craving for universal unity is the third and last anguish of men. (Book V, Chapter 5)

Don't all Dark Side practitioners begin to sound a like after a while?

In any case, the release of the Grand Inquisitor is another sign that FFG is expanding its range of Star Wars miniatures from the narrow confines of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. I hope more characters from Star Wars Rebels are on their way! (Cough, cough, Sabine, cough, cough).

The Grand Inquisitor, FFG Imperial Assault (2016, sculpted by G. Storkamp)

So, what we have is a broader range of miniatures and a tendency to maneuver away from the least tasteful excretions of the Star Wars universe. Sounds good to me!

Thanks for stopping by. And you can find my galleries for all the Imperial Assault miniatures here: Rebels... Imperials... and Mercenaries.

A Byhakee Rampant and a Mi-go Rampant supporting an open Necronomicon with a mantling of crossed sawed off shotguns, and a stick of dynamite above a scroll with the motto: "Don't fuck with us, or we'll kill you."

Yes my children, this is the Coat of Arms of that group of most famous of Cthulhu investigators, The Friends Against Monsters, England (aka F.A.M.E.).

This coat of arms is one of the best presents anyone has ever given me. My friend Nathan designed it to commemorate an epic Call of Cthulhu campaign we played together back in our university days. A framed print of this Coat of Arms now hangs in my living room (Thankfully Mrs. Oldhammer-in-Toronto shares my loose approach to interior design).

The Call of Cthulhu campaign in question was stupendous. One of the reasons it was so successful was that the players were not afraid to mix humour with the horror. As the Game Master, I was at first scandalized by the outrageous accents and the silly names (Louis Labante; Olaf Henke; Farmer Pounder). But I soon realized that goofy jokes made the inevitable terror more terrible. The laughter would stop, and all of a sudden, I could smell the fear.

Starting in London in the 1890's, we worked our way through many of the adventures in Cthulhu by Gaslight and Dark Designs. The characters evolved from hapless, Victorian socialites to paranoid, trigger-happy sociopaths... and became The Friends Against Monsters, England. And during almost every session, we'd joke about how are team needed a proper coat of arms. Certainly, we knew what the motto would be...

Call of Cthulhu circa 1995

As the original members of F.A.M.E. aged, died and went insane, a new generation of characters took the campaign to New England during the 1920's, becoming F.A.M.U.S. (Friends Against Monsters, United States). There we played through the Masks of Nyarlothotep and theFungi from Yuggoth (which is, in my view, the greatest Cthulhu adventure ever written). Finally, the surviving characters were so deranged by madness and Cthulhoid lore that they were virtually villains themselves. As Nietzsche said, "Beware when fighting Shoggoths that you yourself do not become a Shoggoth."

Well, in any case, that campaign was a long time ago... more than 20 years gone now. We're all Shoggoths now.

Allow me to introduce you to Ching Lung Soo, a stage conjurer and founder of the Inner Brotherhood of Magicians, a leading organization of magical performers in 1920's London. Unfortunately, Ching Lung Soo is also the leader of a cult of Lan-Shi, an ancient Chinese Star Vampire. He has some interesting plans to bring Lan-Shi to the audiences of Great Britain...

The character of Ching Lung Soo comes to us courtesy of The Vanishing Conjurer by Mike Lewis and Simon Price, a Call of Cthulhu adventure published by Games Workshop in 1986. And the miniature which I've painted is from Citadel's CC1 Gothic Horror range -- a set of miniatures produced under license from 1985-1987 for use with Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. Although the miniature is clearly patterned off of Lee Gibbons' cover illustration, in the miniature catalogs published by Citadel, he is denominated as "Fu Manchu".

Fu Manchu painted miniature (Citadel, 1986)

The Vanishing Conjurer is a fantastic adventure. Because it requires the characters to infiltrate the theatres of London and figure out the mechanics of several stage illusions, it's filled with historical lore about the magic business. Many diagrams are taken directly from Tricks and Illusions, a magic manual written by Will Goldston and published in 1909.

The Vanishing Conjurer also contains my favourite illustration of a Star Vampire, a floating mass of tentacles which is hard to illustrate since it is normally invisible (it only becomes visible when the transparent tentacles are engorged by the blood of its victims). The illustrator Ian Cooke shows us the Star Vampire as it appears in a Chinese manuscript detailing the sacrifices of the Cult of Lan Shi:

Illustration of Star Vampire (Chinese Manuscript)

I love the interplay between illustrations and miniature sculpting. The Gothic Horror range is filled with such overlap -- such as Rabbi Joshua Cohen, who I discussed in my post about Citadel's portrayal of Jewish characters. Another example is Chris Marrinan's cover for The Fungi from Yuggoth (1984). The Gothic Horror miniatures "The Heroine" and "The Explorer" replicate these figures exactly, right down to the eye-glasses and the surprised expressions.

In my own way, I'm trying to continue that tradition of weaving illustrations together with Cthulhu miniatures. I'm doing this as part of my project to match old Gothic Horror miniatures with modern characters from Fantasy Flight Games'Eldritch Horrorgame. Who said you can't pour new wine in old wineskins? Whoever he was, I bet he didn't game.

The latest installments of this project are the characters from the expansion Strange Remnants:

The first character from Strange Remnants is Tony Morgan, the Bounty Hunter. The miniature is "Bogart" from the LE3 Gumshoes set that was sculpted by Bob Naismith (The "LE" stands for "Limited Edition").

Painted Miniature for Tony Morgan, Strange Remnants

Second is Marie Lambeau, a creole chanteuse. Her miniature is "The Lady" (1986) from the CC1 Gothic Horror range. There are a couple variations of this miniature, some with and some without that hat.

Painted Miniature for Marie Lambeau, Strange Remnants

The third character is the infelicitously named Skids O'Toole, an ex-convict. That's a name that would embarrass the authors of a Bazooka Joe comic. Oh well. The miniature is the CC1 Gothic Horror "Detective". If he looks a lot like Bogart, that's because this is another example of the many variant miniatures that fill this range.

Painted Miniature for Skids O'Toole, Strange Remnants

Finally, there's Zoe Samaras, a Cthulhu-investigating chef (?!). Well, not just any chef -- a crazed, knife-wielding chef of Greek extraction. Sadly, the Gothic Horror range lacks any portrayals of crazed, knife-wielding chefs of Greek extraction. Shocking, I know. Well, I supplied the gap by modifying an old Citadel elf sorceress and then splattering her liberally with blood.

Painted Miniature for Zoe Samaras, Strange Remnants

Remember, Vote Cthulhu for President!

Welcome to another round of my ongoing project to use Citadel's Gothic Horror range from the 1980's to supply the miniatures for use in Eldtritch Horror, the excellent Cthulhu game published by Fantasy Flight Games. I've already posted minis for the Core Game and for the Strange Remnants expansion. An now this week, I've got four of the investigators from the Mountains of Madness expansion...

Daisy Walker, Wilson Richards, Agnes Baker and Patricia Hathaway

First we have the Librarian, Daisy Walker. Her miniature is "The Adventuress" (1986) from the CC1 Gothic Horror Range. This is another sculpture with several variants, some with guns, some with purses, and some with guns and purses. Well, as anyone who has played Call of Cthulhu knows, your skill in Library Research is the most important ability that your character can have... if you don't know the Dewey Decimal System, you're never going to be able to find Von Juntz's Unaussprechlichen Kulten at the back of the stacks.

Next we have Wilson Richards, the Handyman. His miniature is the CC1 "Game Keeper" (1987). Why is Wilson wearing orange socks? No one knows and Wilson isn't talking.

Agnes Baker is a waitress in a diner. But in Eldtritch Horror, she is also the most magically talented character, with an uncanny ability to augment any spell she casts. Or as it says on her character card "I remember another life, one of sorcery and conquest". Hmm. Sounds like Conan the Barbarian. [Note to self: tip well when eating a diners].

Her miniature is the CC1 "Society Girl" (1988).

And finally, here's Patricia Hathaway, the Violinist. Her miniature is the CC1 1986 "Old Woman". A violinist? Really? Well, they say that music calms the savage beast. Good luck with your fiddle when the Shoggoth comes your way!

Thanks for looking!

I have a fever. And the only cure is... more Gothic Horror miniatures.

This is the latest in my ongoing series of posts using Citadel's CC1 Gothic Horror range from the 1980's as the basis for characters for the boardgame Eldritch Horror. Last week I did miniatures for the half the characters from the Mountains of Madness expansion, and this week I'm finishing the job.

First up is George Barnaby, the lawyer. His miniature is the CC1 "Professor" (1986). Everyone knows that when Cthulhu comes calling, the first thing you need to do is get lawyered up. Nothing frustrates a coven of insane demon-worshipers like a sternly worded cease-and-desist letter. Good luck, George!

Second is Finn Edwards, the Bootlegger. His miniature is the CC1 "Explorer" (1986). This miniature looks like an Indiana Jones knock off to me. And it's not Citadel's only one, either... check out Trish Morrison's sculpture of "The Archaeologist" (1988) for Talisman Timescape.

Ursula Downs the Explorer is rendered with the CC1 "Heroine" (1986). As I discussed a couple weeks ago, this miniature was inspired by the cover-art for The Fungi from Yuggoth. This is my kind of Cthulhu investigator: she's carrying a shotgun.

Finally, here's Tommy Muldoon, the Rookie Cop. His miniature is the CC1 "Flat Shoe" (1986). For clarity's sake, I have to point out that the slang term for a patrolman is "flatfoot" not "flat shoe" (which is what ballet dancers wear). In any case, Eldritch Horror is a little heavy on Irish-American cops and robbers. We already have Michael McGlen (the gangster), Skids O'Toole (the ex-con) and Finn Edwards (the bootlegger). Officer Muldoon makes it four, allowing them to perform as a close harmony quartet. And yet there's only one knife-wielding chef of Greek extraction. Seems unfair, doesn't it?

And remember to Vote for Cthulhu in 2016: No Lives Matter.

The release of the Robotechcartoon series in 1984 was a turning point in my childhood. Up to that point, I had assumed that there was only a certain amount of coolness in the world. Mullets were cool. Dinobots were very cool. Could there be anything more? However, when Robotech appeared om TV that first Saturday morning, a limit that I hadn't even perceived was at once disclosed and discarded. If there were actual adult people in Japan who had dedicated themselves to breaking down the walls of imagination by animating giant robots of undreamed beauty, then... then... the world has no limts. Coolness is an infinite resource.

The box cover for Battletech 2nd ed.

The heady promise of Robotech has -- more or less -- been honoured by my subsequent life. After all, I discovered pork buns, sex and Warhammer. But I digress from my point. Did I have a point? The point is that Robotech was and is extremely cool.

Also released in 1984 was Battletech, "a game of armored combat" by FASA corporation. Battletech has become one of the most storied franchises in the gaming world, surviving and thriving for 30 years. But it's true genius was to be the first to make a game out of the giant robots from Robotech (and other Japanese anime like Fang of the Sun Dougram and Crusher Joe). Without these Japanese designs, it's hard to imagine Battletech's existence, let alone its great success. Indeed, the initial boxed set consisted entirely of mechs lifted from anime. FASA would quickly start to develop its own homemade mechs, but they couldn't approach the beauty, originality and verve of the original Japanese designs.

The problem, as anyone familiar with Battletech knows, is that it was not clear that FASA had purchased the rights to the iconic Japanese designs. The upshot of a long, boring and secretive legal battle was that FASA retained the rights to the names of its mechs but gave up the rights to their images. It's like George Lucas losing the rights to Darth Vader's helmet or Stormtrooper armour. The heart of the Battletech brand was gone. In an unusually poetic phrasing, these lost designs became known as the "unseen mechs".

So, for example, below we have the WHM-6R "Warhammer", which occupied the cover of the 1st (1984), 2nd (1985) and 3rd (1992) editions of Battletech. This mech was patterned off of the Macross "Destroid Tomahawk". What a strange and awkward design! Just look at the the reptilian face, the huge under-slung guns, or the search light and missile pod sprouting from its shoulders like amputated wings. On its own, each element is quite ugly -- and yet the whole comes together to create a masterpiece. That's the genius of the Macross/Robotech design team, Studio Nue.

WHM-6R "Warhammer Painted Unseen Miniature

Well, Battletech eventually adapted to the loss of the Unseen Mechs. But grognards like me have trouble moving on. And so when I decided to start painting Battletech miniatures, I found myself in familiar territory: obsessing about long out-of-production miniatures. Now most of my collection comes from Ral Partha's early Battltech range. However, in order to get proper miniatures for some rarer mechs, I had to dig deeper, finding original Super Dimension Fortress Macross plastic models in 1/320 scale from the mid-1980's. I don't believe that these plastic models had ever been released in North America.

PHX-HK2 "Phoenix Hawk" LAM Painted Unseen Miniature

Above and below we have two different versions of the PHX-HK2 "Phoenix Hawk" LAM ("Land Air Mech"). This mech was inspired by the most iconic of all Robotech designs, the VF-1 "Valkyrie", which was itself the product of a nearly accidental combination of a robot's legs and a fighter jet in Studio Nue.

The top Phoenix Hawk is a plastic Japanese Macross model that I converted so that it looked like it was in the middle of a rapid emergency landing. The jets of flame were created by stiffening sponge with white glue, shaping it into cones and painting them to look like fiery smoke.

Ral Partha's PHX-HK2 "Phoenix Hawk" LAM Unseen Miniature

The second Phoenix Hawk is a Ral Partha model made from white metal. I decided to let my freak flag fly and paint him in a non-traditional colour scheme of blue, purple and screaming orange. Tasteful, no. But hopefully memorable.

So welcome to the first in a series of posts about Battletech, Unseen Miniatures, and other goodness. I hope they can add to the world's infinite fund of coolness.

The RFL-3N "Rifleman" exemplifies everything that I love and hate about the game of Battletech. It's a great looking Mech, and it boasts four deadly guns. The problem? If you fire all four guns at the same time, the Rifleman will overheat, causing its reactor to shut down and perhaps detonating its own highly explosive ammunition. A better name for the Rifleman would be the Murder/Suicide.

The idea that super-powered death machines are constantly fighting their own thermal output is a big part of the fun of Battletech. Heat management adds a whole new dimension to the "maneuver-and-fire" that's at the heart of most wargames. And it's not so far from reality. From the earliest siege cannons to modern machine guns, the buildup of heat bedevils all gunners; a red hot weapon loses accuracy, becomes too hot to hold and ultimately will melt or explode.

RFL-3N Rifleman Painted Unseen Miniature

Battletech is by no means a perfect game. It is slow, requires a lot of book-keeping and has an infuriating approach to weapon ranges (in the game, even "long range" missiles can only fire a few hundred meters. In real life, such missiles would fire for 10, 100 or 1000 kilometers).

Nevertheless, I stand in awe of Battletech as a game. That's because -- like a shark or the recipe for KFC -- it is remarkable for how little it has changed since it's inception.

A basic game of Battletech is fought today with essentially the same rules as a game from 1986. The most important alteration of nuts-and-bolts rules that I can detect is a tweak in calculating how to determine hit location when only the top half of a mech is visible to the attacker. In other words, small beer. Contrast this with Warhammer Fantasy Battle, which has rebooted its rules system 9 times in the same period of time, with each revision changing core elements in the game.

Of course, that's not to say that Battletech hasn't changed. But FASA (and its heirs) found a way of adding to the richness of the game without replacing what had come before. They created a need for new Battletech products by developing the history of the Battletech universe as time passed in the real world. And as events progressed in the Battletech universe, the level of technology changed. So, although you can still play with the humble RFL-3N Rifleman, there are now rules for technologically superior upgrades, including the Clan's Mad Dog or the Inner Sphere's Rifleman IIC. It's a smart approach, that can please both nostalgia fiends (like myself) and normal people.

What do you think? Does Battletech still hold up? While you mull over that question, here are some more from my collection of Unseen Battletech miniatures.

The TDR-5D "Thunderbolt":

TDR-5D Thunderbolt Painted Unseen Miniature

The SHD-2H "Shadowhawk":

SHD-2H Shadowhawk Painted Unseen Miniature

The GRF-1N "Griffin":

And my favourite, the SCP-1N "Scorpion". I've painted this one to look like a WWII Panzer. House Kurita Uber Alles!

SCP-1N Scorpion Painted Unseen Miniature

Thanks for stopping by!

The strangest and most beautiful Unseen Mechs of Battletech are those inspired by the aliens of Macross and Robotech. I speak, of course, about the Marauder and the Ostscout, which are pictured above. In Macross, the Marauder was originally called the Glaug Officer's Battle Pod, while the Ostscout was the Regult Battle Pod.

Packaging for kits #1 and #2 of 1/320 scale Macross Models

Studio Nue, the creative shop behind Macross/Robotech, outdid themselves with these designs -- they are works of art in and of themselves. Everything about them seems authentically alien: their lack of right angles, their backward knee joints, the stamen-shaped limbs, the insectoid carapace, and -- of course -- the single eye in the middle of their chests. They look like the bastard children of a lobster and an orchid.

I was picky when casting around for miniatures to represent these mechs. Ral Partha's metal Marauder is a bad rendition: clunky, unstable and ill-proportioned. And the Ostscout presents even greater problems. When the Regult Pod was translated from Macross to Battletech, it was modified to add arms and a head. These changes anthropomorphized the Ostscout and ruined the extraterrestrial aesthetic. Boo on that, I say. I wanted the original design. But where to get it at the correct scale for Battletech?

As I mentioned last week, I finally found some hard plastic Macross models produced in Japan during the 1980's in 1/320 scale -- just about perfect for Battletech (which is usually between 1/285 and 1/300 scale). The models came in long sprues with 4 mechs per sprue. (The packaging for each of these sprues is pictured to the left). Although the plastic doesn't capture a lot of detail, the figures did have the right Macross feel. After a few minor alterations (like adding antennae and accentuating the central eye), they seemed like the best Battle Pods that I could find.

So here's my Unseen MAD-3R "Marauder":

MAD-3R Marauder Painted Unseen Miniature

MAD-3R Marauder Painted Unseen Miniature Battletech

And here's the Unseen OTT-7J "Ostscout":

OTT-7J Ostscout Painted Unseen Miniature

Unfortunately, most of the other models from these old sprues didn't work out as well. Last week I showed off my converted LAM Phoenix Hawk, which is an OK miniature if a little chunky. But even chunkier is the regular Unseen PXH-1 "Phoenix Hawk":

PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk Painted Unseen Miniature

By way of contrast, below is a closely related miniature from Ral Partha: the metal miniature for the Unseen WSP-1A "Wasp" (The Wasp and the Phoenix Hawk are based off of various iterations of Macross' Valkyrie Variable Fighter). This is a beautiful model: detailed, well-posed and elegant. It perfectly captures the lithe power of the Valkyrie.

And here's its companion, the Unseen STG-3R "Stinger" by Ral Partha. The Stinger is another Valkyrie variant. Both these figures required very little modification on my part -- I simply added the antennae/gun ports that crown their heads (they are fashioned from thin copper wire). I love the folded wings behind their backs -- they really accentuate the hornet-like aspect of their designs.

And to round out my collection of Unseen Battletech miniatures, here's the the LGB-7Q "Longbow". This long-range missile platform was also lifted from Macross -- it's the Destroid Phalanx that premiered in Super Dimension Fortress Macross Episode #27. I slightly converted this Ral Partha model, replacing the original head with a more anime-looking one from my Macross plastic sprues. This is another jolie-laide design: the barrel arms and the tiny pea-head should make it stupid looking, but instead it projects power and menace. I love it!

My previous posts of Unseen Mechs are here and here. Well, thanks for stopping by and making these Unseen miniatures slightly less unseen!

There's a contradiction at the heart of the expanding Star Wars universe. Let's call it Jedi Inflation. On the one hand, we have the movies, which are governed by the idea that the Jedi are wiped out. Indeed, in A New Hope, both Tarkin and Obiwan call the Jedi "extinct" and "all but extinct". This sad fact intensifies the drama of Luke Skywalker's emergence. He is, as Yoda calls him in Return of the Jedi, "the last of the Jedi". This is central to the story. Everything depends on Luke because without him, the flame of the Jedi is forever extinguished.

Davith Elso from Imperial Assault

On the other hand, there are the licensed games like Imperial Assaultor the excellent TV show, Star Wars Rebels (all of which are overseen by the same "story group" at Disney and follow basic rules of canonicity). They portray roughly the same time period as the original trilogy of movies. And yet in them, other Jedi have survived to battle the Empire. So we have Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger and Ahsoka Tano (in Rebels) or Diala Passil and Davith Elso (in Imperial Assault). These Jedi are not hidden away: the Rebels Alliance is aware of them, and so are the Imperial authorities. They are part of the Rebellion. And they leave me with the impression that the galaxy is crawling with Jedi.

I don't see this tension being resolved any time soon. The Force Awakens continues the story of the Jedi as a vanished tradition. That movie suggests that Luke alone attempted to rebuild the Jedi Order, and when that ended in tragedy and Luke disappeared, all trace of the Jedi seemed to vanish with him. What happened to characters like Ezra (or less official ones, like Davith from Imperial Assault) is unclear.

The reasons for Jedi inflation are so obvious that they barely need to be stated. Jedi fascinate us. They virtually define the Star Wars universe. Fans want to identify with Jedi heroes, and since there isn't enough Skywalker to go around, new characters must be invented.

But, at the same time, their expanding number dilutes precisely the thing that makes the Jedi into the Jedi. They are rare, special and exclusive. But it's not mere rarity that makes the Jedi so gripping. More importantly, the Jedi are living anachronisms. Obiwan, Luke and even Vader are relics from a vanished age. Their clothes, manners, and beliefs are out of place in the contemporary world and hearken back to a dim past: A past when swords were used instead of blasters, and when magic was more powerful than technology. To meet a Jedi is truly to meet a species that was supposed to have gone extinct a long time ago.

My favourite encapsulation of the idea that Jedi are time travelers from the past occurs during A New Hope. This is when Admiral Motti (foolishly) upbraids Vader for failing to recapture the stolen plans to the Death Star:

Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fort...

This sense that they're lost, even in their own fantasy world, is what gives the Jedi a grip on our imagination. Portraying too many Jedi breaks that spell of anachronism. Indeed, I think that's one of the reasons why the Prequel Trilogy fell flat on its face -- it never found a way to construct a universe that both multiplied the number of the Jedi and maintained their aura of being out-of-place and out-of-time.

It seems that the current Star Wars canon tries to square this circle by an adroit act of doublethink. It pretends that there is simply no contradiction between the solitary Jedi of the movies versus the Jedi inflation in other media. It's not a terrible approach -- at least it helps to preserve the impression in the movies that the Jedi are a vanished and legendary tradition (certainly, The Force Awakens emphasized this point over and over again -- for instance, by communicating early that Rey and Finn barely believe in the Jedi). But at the same time, we still get lots of interesting if peripheral Jedi characters in shows, games and novels. Jedi inflation? There's no Jedi inflation. These are not the droids you're looking for.

But doublethink isn't a sustainable practice. Sooner or later, the cognitive dissonance will drive you crazy. In the case of Star Wars, a failure to resolve this tension threatens to divide the Star Wars universe in two -- a cinematic half, where Luke Skywalker was the last bearer of the Jedi's flame -- and a fan-friendly half, where plucky Jedi survivors fight the good fight, but never meet up with Luke.

My own view is that a little bit of Jedi inflation is a good thing. It helps to balance another central tension within the Star Wars universe -- the tension between Star Wars as a vast, open-ended story, filled with hundreds or thousands of vibrant characters -- and, on the other hand, Star Wars as a claustrophobic family drama, where the Skywalkers are messianic figures and their story is at the center of the entire galaxy. By throwing in a few other Jedi, the fans are reminded that the Star Wars universe is too big for anyone to fully comprehend. Even Yoda can err, like when he called Luke the last of the Jedi.

What do you think?

* * *

My other mini-essays on Star Wars include:

- The influence of Star Wars on Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader
- The stench of Zen Buddhism in The Force Awakens
- Why did Obi-wan hesitate before allowing Vader to strike him down?

Jewish Characters by Citadel Miniatures: good, bad and ugly

Reading along with the Lord of the Rings: A Knife in the Dark

Jewish Characters in Fantasy: a follow-up

Imperial Assault Battle Report: The Bantha Strikes Back

Imperial Assault Battle Report: a Bantha Too Far

Painted Scenery for Star Wars Imperial Assault

Painted Star Wars Miniatures - The Bespin Gambit

Cloud City Blues

Miniature Photography the Oldenhammer Way

Oldenhammer in Toronto in Wales

More Painted Terrain for Star Wars Imperial Assault

Obi-Wan, Greedo and the Grand Inquisitor: Star Wars Favourites

Cthulhu Coat of Arms

Citadel's Call of Cthulhu Miniatures

Gothic Horror Miniatures for The Mountains of Madness

The Mountains are Alive with the Sound of Madness

Unseen Battletech Miniatures

Unseen Battletech Miniatures II

Unseen Battletech Miniatures III

Jedi Inflation, Time Travel and Doublethink