Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Bouillon

This evening I'm into miniature painting... It has been a while so I hope I still have the skills to do it.

In the meanwhile, I was looking at the pictures taken at Bouillon a few weeks ago under sunny weather conditions. Saved for a rainy day, I'm happy to share a little morale booster. Some were taken during the medieval weekend, others during an occasional visit last summer.

X-Tine





  Hoisted over the fortress, the flag of the Franciscan Custody of Jerusalem.
 

Markings on the wall inside the prison cell.
 




Dinner in medieval style :-)

The Combat Tournament:




Sunday, September 23, 2012

How to play Alkemy with your favorite miniatures? (part 1)


What's Alkemy all about? (English)


Since four years we play Alkemy. To our opinion, it offers the most innovating system for skirmish games. Based on alternated activations (each player activates a miniature per turn), the miniatures have the possibility to react to actions directed at them. Complicated? Not at all!

The tactics are hidden in the management of your actions, allowing you to elude your adversary's plans by forcing him to react where you want him to. Say goodbye to the "old school" system based on the strategy to put miniatures in contact with an adversary and to let the stats decide of the results (hoping your dice roll will prove beneficial). 

Let's talk about the innovating dice system. On one dice roll (using 2 special 2D6) the warrior's state of health, the to hit result and the damage you inflict to your adversary are determined. The 2D6 score offers curve probabilities not so much based on luck than you have with the one dice-roll. Forget about tedious counting, the only bonus/malus to the result in Alkemy is one dice more or less.

The color of the dice are based on the characters wounds. The red dice characteristics being less powerfull than the yellow ones, meaning the character already took severe wounds.
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Three different colors define the health-state of your miniature, the score to hit and to wound. The symbols on the dice show the damage.
 
Les dés Alkemy sont en trois couleurs qui définirent l'état de santé de votre figurine. Les tests sont lus grâce au score. Les symboles indiquent les dégâts causés.

And that's not all. The close combat system relays on the choice of 5 types of attack achieved by the use of combat cards. It's about estimating your opponent's actions and bluffing. The results give you the bonus/malus in additional dice you'll have for that particular combat.

What a pleasure ! Ever since Studio 38 bought the license, the game came to live again. The rules are downloadable for free as well as all the cards. You'll find a friendly forum where you will get help and find answers to your questions.

Le jeu Alkemy (Français)

Cela fait déjà 4 ans que nous jouons à Alkemy. Et à notre avis, c'est le système le plus innovateur que j'ai vu jusqu'à présent pour un jeu d'escarmouche. Ce système moderne se base sur l'activation alterné (chaque joueur active une figurine à son tour) où les figurines ont une possibilité de réaction envers les actions directes à leur encontre. Compliqué, me direz-vous? Loin de là.

La tactique de jeu réside dans la gestion de ses actions, sans oubliez que votre adversaire fera de même. Le système de réactions vous permettra même de déjouer les plans de l'adversaire en le forçant à réagir là où vous le voulez. Fini la tactique "old school" où la seule stratégie est de mettre ses figs au contact de l'adversaire et de laisser parler les stats en espérant que votre score sur le dé vous sera bénéfique.

Les jets de dés. Parlons-en! Alkemy utilise un système plus que novateur à l'aide de 2D6 bien spéciaux. Il ne suffit que d'un seul jet qui détaille l'état de santé de votre combattant, le résultat pour toucher et les dommages que vous infligez à votre adversaire (voir les dés ci-dessous). Les jets sur 2D6 vous donneront une courbe de probabilités bien moins chanceuses qu'avec un seul dé. Oubliez les comptages fastidieux, les seul bonus/malus à Alkemy que vous rencontrerez est 1 dé de moins ou de plus.

La couleur des dés utilisés est basé sur le nombre de dégâts de chaque figurines. Les rouges ayant des caractéristiques moins puissant que les jaunes et ces derniers moins que les blancs. 

Et ce n'est pas fini. Le système de corps à corps repose sur un choix de 5 types d'attaques qui se réalise à l'aide de cartes de combat. Il s'agit ici d'entrevoir votre adversaire et de le bluffer. Les résultats vous donneront des bonus/malus traduit en dés additionnels/octroyés.

Que du bonheur ! Depuis que Studio 38 a repris la licence, le jeu vie à nouveau et les règles sont téléchargeable gratuitement ainsi que toutes les cartes. Vous trouverez également un forum bien sympathique où l'on hésitera pas à vous aider et à répondre à vos questions.



Studio 38: http://www.figurines-studio38.com/ALKEMY.html

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Pirate fantasy gang : Ogre

Here comes the ogre with canon, a big creature again.  Goblins have very low stats and this kind of big miniatures are very welcome to boost the goblins as a cutthroat crew. In addition to have very tough stats, he aslo has a crew of competent artillery snotlings. A danger at close range or at a very far distance.





Monday, September 10, 2012

Pirate Gang : Characters

Captain Krill , his drunken brother Dyphter and the sea shaman. These guys are full off originality. I love the crab on Krill's hat, the fact that you have to paint a tattooed treasure map on mr. Dyphter's belly and the crazy kraken on the shaman. I still have to make some stats for them for the Alkemy rules but I think it won't take long...

As for the painting, I really like the illustration Paul Bonner made for the crew, they all had that human skin tone (I love goblins and orks with human flesh colors). Hope you like it.






Rodemack: a source of inspiration

Something I've been dreaming of ever since watching Luc Besson's movie "Joan of Arc" is to follow the trace of the enigmatic heroine through France, starting in Domrémy, her birthplace in Lorraine. Due to a busy schedule we had to satisfy ourselves with a small trip to the Land of the Three Frontiers. Pleasantly surprised we discovered the inspirational Medieval village of Rodemack, nicknamed "Petite Carcassonne Lorraine", surrounded by 700 meters of ramparts from the 15C. 



 


 

 


 



X-Tine

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Pirate Troll

Working on a Goblin Pirate gang for playing with Alkemy. As a start, the Black Troll from Rackham. This is a lovely miniature to paint, full of funny details, like a cyclopic eye, rhum bottles, a fish tail, mushrooms, etc. I gave him a copper armor to avoid a too greyish overall appearance, especially on the rear.
Hope you like it.