Cheap Pirate Minis at the Dollar General

I was in the local Dollar General store this morning and noticed a pack of 25 pirate figures for $1.00.  They are the same scale as your standard green army men.  Also, they are called BUCCANEER BRAWLERS, so what is not to like?

Another Pseudo-Miniature: The Leviathan!

My wife picked this up for me at Tuesday Morning (a thrift chain around these parts) for 99 cents.

Behold, the Leviathan!

It even came with its own stat sheet!

I have to admit, I find it kind of funny that this guy is from the "Tales of Glory: Spirit Warriors" line-up.

Here are shots to show the scale:

On guard!

So, eaten any heroes lately?

Cheap Pseudo-Minis at Michael's

I saw these in the "$1 and Up" aisle at Michael's craft store. Apparently these dragons are part of the THE ALIEN FORCE!

UPDATE: I saw these the "5 Below" discount chain as well, but they were for $5.00 (rather pricey for this stuff). Michael's had them for $2.00.

Gaming Deal: Wargods for $10.00

I am not a huge miniature games player, but I do enjoy them from time to time, especially at conventions. I don't like ones that are overly complicated and if it takes a life-time to play a battle, count me out. 

However, one of my favorite miniatures games is Wargods by Crocodile Games.  Combat is relatively fast and furious.  One of the cool aspects of Wargods is that players use counters to pre-plot their squad movement before each turn and then have to stick with it.  It gives the game a more realistic feel and seems to speed up play. You just lay out the counters in the path you plan to move and then go with it.

Right now until 10/23/11, the core Wargods rulebook is on sale for $10.00 (it's normally $30.00): link  I believe the S&H is only $5 or so.  Definitely worth checking out. 

Nice Finds at Michael's

I stopped by Michael's the other day and saw these sitting on a shelf.  They might make great terrain for D&D, miniatures war gaming (the palace in particular looks great for Ambush Alley), and so on.  They were about $7 to $9 a piece.

UPDATE: These things are actually birdhouses. You can also find them on eBay if you search for "unpainted wooden castle."  I can't find them on the Michael's web site.

Nifty Condition Markers

My buddy John had a great idea for DIY condition markers: use those plastic rings from milk jug caps. Simple. Brilliant. Need different colors? Buy different kinds of milk!

Looking for Miniatures for Your Kids?

… then pick up a Bucket of Dragons!  I already picked this up for my girls, but it will be held in reserve until Christmas.  It looks like this has already been discussed at ENWorld (link).  Since my bucket will remain closed until Christmas morn, here are some shots from that ENWorld thread:

Amazon has it going for $20 or so, but my local Wal-Fart has it for $11.00.  It appears Wal-Fart has some kind of exclusive “How to Train Your Dragon” deal going on (we could only find my daughter’s Astrid costume at Wal-Fart as well), so that would account for the online mark up.  Strangely, you can’t order it from Wal-Fart online though.

Really Cheap Tact-Tiles Substitute

A while back I talked about Tact-Tiles, both the kinds you can buy and do-it-yourself ways to make them.  For my Lazy Homemade Tact-Tiles #2 idea, I suggested buying a very cheap dry erase kit from LTD Commodities. Well, it no longer appears to be available at LTD, but I did pick up a set myself before they pulled it.  I poked around a bit and, man, the kit is hard to find now, but I did find one set on eBay here: link.  So, obviously, right out of the gate, this option now has one strike against it.  I figured I’d go ahead and post my thoughts on this kit as a gaming tool anyhow.  Hopefully someone out there has better Google-Fu than I do and can locate a retailer if they’re interested.

Here is what you get:

The panels are paper-thin, but they are basically big stickers after all.

Each panel is 12 inch x 12 inch and you get 8 panels total.  That is a pretty good sized gaming area.

I put the panels down on my gaming table and they covered a large chunk.

I doodled a bit of a dungeon on them and they worked fairly well.  Understandably, I had to hold down the panel so it wouldn’t move, but it wasn’t a problem.

So here is the skinny:

• If you want a grid, you’ve got some work to do. I know from personal experience,
  
  there really is no way to permanently mark this kind of surface apart from scoring it.  These panels are going to turn into confetti if you score them.  One possibility would be to mount the panels onto sections of poster board and then score them.
• A quick note regarding a grid, keep in mind games like D&D 3.5 and 4e work on a one-inch grid, so you can really just use a tape measure without much trouble (well, I’m assuming that is true for 4e. I haven’t played it).  Savage Worlds operates on this grid too and, despite the emphasis on a battle map in the Savage Worlds rule book, the official demo I played at Origins used a tape measure.
• The panels stay in place reasonably well. I bumped the table a bit to test this and the panels more or less stayed in place.  I’m guessing inadvertent bumps by players might be more problematic. Having not played with the interlocking Tact-Tiles, I’m not sure how much of an advantage they offer.
• The panels were covered with a clear film that came off.  I initially wasn’t certain if this was suppose to happen. I’m still not sure, but the panels were still erasable after I removed the film (although shadowing did increase noticeably).

The Verdict

• You get what you pay for. These panels aren’t as snazzy as the original Tact-Tiles or the current Battlegraph Boards.  However, if you can find a set, this kit is a hell of a lot cheaper, especially if you consider the amount of playing surface you get.  You get 8 panels for a 2 foot by 4 foot playing area. In comparison, the Battlegraph Boards are $7.00 per 12 inch piece and a set of Tact-Tiles will run you several hundred dollars on eBay (no joke, check the ENWorld forums).
• If nothing else, these panels would be handy for those times combat spills off your regular battle mat.

Since I am fine with my homemade battle mat, I didn’t keep the kit for myself.  I hung it up in two sections in our kitchen, thinking it would be fun for my daughters.  They really liked it, but, whoa boy, was it a bad idea.  My girls are six and three and, well, their marker control is still rather suspect.  Suffice it to say, they didn’t always stay on the dry erase area.  Word to the wise, dry erase markers don’t wash off non-dry erase walls…  our kitchen is a bit more colorful now.  I certainly do not recommend the kit for its intended purpose unless you have a wall you probably be ok with your kids drawing on to begin with.

Gaming Deal - Halo Interactive Strategy Game

Toys R Us has the "Halo Interactive Strategy Game" on sale for $7.69: link. The shipping and handling is an estimated $6.60. I noticed this game in a bricks and mortar store the other day and it was $10.00, which is still a good deal. I haven't played the game myself, but the reviews on Amazon are pretty positive: link (they also have a fairly decent price).

Even if the game blows, the scenery and minis are likely worth the price for any sci-fi miniatures game or RPG, such as Star Wars, Necromunda, etc.

I'm not a big sci-fi gamer, but figured I'd share this info anyhow.