RIP absolute legend, Sam Neill. I've never heard a bad story about you, and I hope that never changes. Your performances in Event Horizon and In the Mouth of Madness are genuinely unforgettable and will influence the art I make until I die.

The Build a 'Mech by Committee survey is continuing until the end of July! Looks like keeping pilots alive is a little more expensive than most people care to bother with, but maybe they'll get like a single MedKit like out of an FPS. #BattleTech forms.gle/iZSfkEprt94G...

Completed my obligatory Magistracy of Canopus force for #BattleTech Meant to be 1st/2nd Canopian Brigade colours.

Finished painting up my mercenary company today!

Truly the flattest UrbanMech I have ever painted. #BattleTech

Got 24 answers so far in my survey to build a Medium BattleMech by committee, and so far it looks like we'll be building a 50-ton 'Mech if trends continue like this. If you, too, want to build a 'Mech that disappoints you on EVERYTHING you wanted, you can! #BattleTech forms.gle/iZSfkEprt94G...

I want to know what would happen if you built a 'Mech for #BattleTech by committee because it'd be funny. Since the 3rd Star League is just not corrupt enough, and the 1st Star League doesn't have enough weird tech, this is for an imaginary 4th Star League: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

It has, just in general, been a very productive day for painting! Here's a Frankenmech for #Battletech made of cobbled together pieces of other 'Mechs, each indicated by different color schemes from my other minis.

Finished painting up my SLDF 'Mechs for #BattleTech! Second image is a comparison of a Mongoose painted with stealth systems off/on.

I want to know what would happen if you built a 'Mech for #BattleTech by committee because it'd be funny. Since the 3rd Star League is just not corrupt enough, and the 1st Star League doesn't have enough weird tech, this is for an imaginary 4th Star League: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Thanks to a video from @tabletopminions.bsky.social I learned about "Ghost Juice" (Pastel Seafoam) Speed Paint from @thearmypainter.bsky.social and used it to paint a Stealth variant of the Mongoose from #BattleTech! (I did substitute the white drybrush step with a Vallejo blue violet for effect)

What I like about this technique is it creates the illusion I'm good at painting or that I know what I'm doing. I don't. I have poor fine motor control in my right hand & little patience for detail. @thearmypainter.bsky.social speed paints do all the work! Anyone can paint like this 💜 #BattleTech

Remember how at the start of this I made the choice to use a GREEN primer because I wanted to use it for shadows? Well, here's what I was talking about. These are what my shadows look like now:

Here are Steps 5 & 6, where I'm going to focus in on a single mini! I want to do a Kuritan paint scheme, so I've got some Poppy Red and Pallid Bone @thearmypainter.bsky.social Speed Paints. After that, I picked out some Vallejo Aluminum and Gold metallics for details. #BattleTech

This is Step 4 where I've gone through and done a white dry brush to bring out more details (extra emphasis on heads, fists, gun ports). You'll notice I'm not very good at it. That's fine! All we've done so far is make a "light map" like in a video game. Next is a Speed Paint base coat. #BattleTech

Here's Step 3, using Gravelord Grey from @thearmypainter.bsky.social This gets some darker shadows into the details and overall darkens the green & grey I primed with. Now I've got 3 colors of shading. Posting this in real time, so this took 40 minutes. Step 4? Add a white dry-brush. #BattleTech

I decided to go through my process for how I paint minis! I'm using my #BattleTech minis today! So Steps 1 & 2 were to put down a dark green base coat and a grey zenithal from an angle to get some interesting shading. I think the green gives better shadows. Step 2 is going to be grey speed paint

Shadow the Stars is 96% funded! Check out the solo sci fi game featuring tough choices and wild discoveries. www.kickstarter.com/projects/tab...

Going to end up unemployed at the end of the month, so I have to cancel my weekly articles until I find a job. Not something I'm thrilled about, but has to be done.

Very much looking forward to putting the foot on the accelerator and finally finishing and publishing Stardust for you all. It will come in waves. The project grew too big to fund in one go. But there's lots of free and purchasable storytelling to explore.

First article in a new series where I make something I want, but nobody really needs: another war game. avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/what-i-m-r...

Short article this week, but I really enjoyed reading through #EarthVsTheInvaders which is a 1950s monster movie themed narrative war game with scenarios and campaign play! avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/aliens-and...

As is my custom, I have delivered exactly what I promised... but late. Here's an alternate campaign system for #XenosRampant avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/xenos-ramp...

Some delays this weekend that kept me from putting out the campaign system as planned, but instead here's some unit lists for playing Command & Conquer factions in Xenos Rampant! avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/c-c-tiberi...

Electrician worked yesterday, and power outage today. Means I'm weeell behind on my article for this week. So I'll have to do something a little quicker while I work on the campaign rules.

Reviewing another @ospreygames.bsky.social. I've bought 2 books of theirs, and loved them both. Highly recommend #XenosRampant to anyone wanting to DIY their own war game setting or to use your models from one game against a friend's army in another! avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/xenos-ramp...

Painted this up last weekend. Not perfect, since I do still have a pretty shaky right hand, but I like the results. @wargamesatlantic.bsky.social #DeathFields

I'm reading through #XenoRampant and I swear this is just going to become an Osprey Games fan blog.

"Y'see, with yer garden variety vampire, or homo nocturnus, ya can go with yer standard aqua sancta, layman’s 'Holy Water'. Now, most people use Protestant or Catholic, but I find I get particular results with Anglican. Then I mix in a bit of essential oil of garlic. Works good for cooking, too."

Okay, this time I'm late on the article because I got too invested in creating custom materials for the game in question. #WhenNightmaresCome from @ospreygames.bsky.social looks really fun! avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/when-night...

So I need to buy time for *another* pivot in the blog's direction. I want to start focusing more on original works as a way of getting me to write at least 2k words a week. Until I get there, I'm doing a product review of When Nightmares Come for this Friday's article

I've finished painting enough minis to playtest a game I'm working on. The green ones aren't necessary, those are just extra.

Very late compared to my usual release schedule, but I think this is all done. #SteelRift avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/steel-rift...

Having a lot of fun painting these up for use with a playtest of a game about pirates, smugglers, & privateers. The one on the left is being painted as a military patrol boat while the one on the right is intended as a privateer refit of the same model of ship. Minis from: 0-hr.com/Shop/Quixote...

I've had a bad trip on anxiety meds that mixed poorly with my recent health problems. This week's article might be significantly delayed while I spend the weekend sweating out benzos. Just legalize weed already, Australia. Safer than my actual prescriptions.

Part 2 of my 3-part series for #SteelRift Intrasolar Operations! Here I fan-fic'ed some lore for the inner solar system to give you ideas of how to fight over other worlds. Next week is the outer solar system. avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/steel-rift...

Part 1 of my #SteelRift series on combat in the solar system! The C&C list builds are delayed until the Hangar gets updated. avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/steel-rift...

Family responsibilities today that I forgot about, so this week's article may be delayed.

Well... I learned something about who's doing the lore for the Firestorm: Armada reboot. I won't be making content for Firestorm: Armada anymore. Damned disappointing. www.reddit.com/r/menwriting...

Welcome to 'Sublight Games 2.0' It's cozier and safer here.

This easter, I wrote an article about killing gods who come back from the dead! To be fair, they started it. God, I wish #AT-43 would rise from the dead, too. avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/killing-go...

The focus will be on the look & feel of the Tiberian Sun/Firestorm era, but set in an alternate timeline where the Tiberian Dawn Nod campaign victory is canon. This'll allow me to pull in any elements of C&C:3 that I really liked, and vary the GDI/Nod Arsenals to better fit a table-top experience.

The work I did on a custom Steel Talons faction for Steel Rift has really made me crave a proper #Command&Conquer table-top wargame. So I'm going to make one. Earlier this year, I was writing rules for a 6mm version of AT-43. But I'm switching settings, and will be using those rules for C&C now!

Really helps if I put the link in the post, doesn't it? And I did notice I'm using the old rules for Howitzers. I'll get this list updated once the Hangar gets updated. #Command&Conquer #SteelRift avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/steel-talo...

This week's article is on converting the Steel Talons from #Command&Conquer for use in #SteelRift by @deathraydesigns.bsky.social

BattleTech was fun. I've enjoyed how visceral and detailed the events of a battle could be. But it was never a great fit for me as wargames go, and the new initiative rules have turned me off the game as a whole. This is probably my last BT article. avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/battletech...

I see Sora and a couple other AI projects have shut down recently. Can't wait for the rest to die. I need a mug to collect prompt engineer's tears for once they complain they have to write their own text and draw their own art, or pay commissions again like normal people.

I'm starting work on a modular tile set of terrain for #BattleTech Alpha Strike and #SteelRift. While that's not really a 'mech design topic, would people be interested in me documenting the process on that?

This week's #BattleTech design article is a little different! Instead of doing a deep-dive on a specific system or set of components, I thought I'd demonstrate how I put all this knowledge together and show-case one of my favorite builds. avernus-labs-rnd.beehiiv.com/p/building-a...

Someone just liked this post of mine. And then I realized I made it 2 years ago and now I live in Western Australia. Oh no... now I've got lots of UV and dry desert air! That's 2 out of 3!