Tabletop RPG gamer wedding cake toppers

A lot of the cake toppers that I make are for gamers. For the most part, these are for fans of various videogames.

 But I also do cake toppers for fans of tabletop roleplaying games. I always love these, perhaps because I met my own wife at a weekly D20 game.

 The first one I did had the couple snuggling, with some character sheets and dice on the ground next to them.

 

 The second couple I did like this were to be sitting at their coffee table (couches are very comfortable for RPGs- sometimes too comfy, actually).

 Also, the groom ditched his suit quite early this time, and wanted me to match the logo on his t-shirt instead. While the bride kept her dress on for game.

 

Gencon MHE 2015- Male Warrior with Battle Axe

Here was my main entry for the Gencon MHE competition this year. Every year, I spend a lot of time painting a few minis, then enter any gaming miniatures I have that fit the categories. But this one was definitely not filler.

 He got a gold award from the main competition, received a judge's choice award, and took home the 4th place Dark Sword trophy.

 I really love this mini- the biggest trouble I had painting him up was that Jim (owner of Darksword) owns a fantastic version of him painted by Zach Lanier. A lot of the decisions that I made on him kept this sort of meta-thinking in mind (ie, when Jim and Jess were judging the contest, I didn't want them to be comparing him to Zach's mini too much).

 I think I came out with an interpretation of this mini that is all my own.

 

Wedding Cake Toppers with Dogs and Cats

I get a lot of different themes for cake toppers, that represent the different passions of the brides and grooms.

 Here, I'll show off three of them that all decided to include their pets. Here's one with both a dog and a cat:

 

This couple also decided to include their dog:

 

And this last group included their dog as one of their Zombie Apocalypse survivors:

 

Helga the Conqueror- P3 Grandmasters

Here is my entry for 2015's P3 Grandmasters (the Privateer Press painting competition held each year).

Overall, I was rather pleased with how she turned out. I felt that the green added something different that the character wouldn't have if she were painted any other way.

 She nearly wasn't completed in time for Gencon. I had actually planned ahead quite well, and would have had her finished handily, except that I got sick enough to stop working on her for almost six weeks in a row (just one minor sickness followed by another).

 In the end, I'm very glad I stuck with her, and I'm quite pleased with how she turned out.

 

Zombie Survivor Cake Toppers with melee weapons

Here's a group of survivors that I created a little while ago.

 It is always nice to see the bride and groom with their favorite weaponry, but on this set I had a particularly good time with the tattoos.

 



 

Images from Gencon: Cool Mini or Not

Cool Mini has had a pretty strong showing at Gencon each year that I've gone.

 This year, their big seller was Blood Rage- which I didn't manage to get any photos of.

 However, I did get some pictures of some of their other upcoming stuff.

 They had some resin casts of their Rum and Bones range. The favorite of every painter I met was definitely the Panda:

 

They also had some new releases for Dark Age.

 

 I think it is interesting how much Dark Age has changed recently with resculpts of old characters. The game used to use a Games Workshop style of exaggerating the anatomy, but as they re-sculpt the range, they've pulled back on that quite a bit (just have a look at the St. Judas in the above picture). I really like the changes, and I think this goes a long way to help out the line.

 Not that all minis should be proportioned realistically. CMON has several ranges that benefit from the exaggeration. Like B-Seiged:

 

Oh, and Arcadia Quest. They had quite a bit to show off from the upcoming set- probably a stand alone expansion headed to Kickstarter:

 



 



 They also had some lovely painted minis to show off... and some less lovely painted minis you could buy:

 

 

 There was also a good Wrath of Kings presence- I just love seeing those minis painted up so well. Having Jen Haley as your studio painter really adds a lot to a line:

 

Images from Gencon: Ninja Division

  Ninja Division's booth seems like it grows a little each year, and this time it has expanded with a robot to pose with their cosplayers. Also, they were supporting quite a few lines of miniatures games. First off, the new Super Dungeon previews: these ones are slated for an October release- sort of a Halloween celebration. The witch is Beatrix and the Scarecrow just looks awesome.

 



 

 They also had most of the items from their Forgotten King Kickstarter on sale. Personally, I was all in on that KS, so I already had it all. However, it was still nice to see them all painted up:

 

 And for anyone wondering what it would look like if you only paint the eyes on your slimes:

 

Also making news were their Boo Booty USB drives:

 

Contained on this little USB is a demo version of their upcoming videogame "Super Dungeon Tactics." There's something that feels ironic about Super Dungeon becoming a videogame.
 



 

 They were showing off a video of the gameplay as you waited in line to pay for all their cool stuff. Now, on to the rest:

 

 Relic Knights is moving to resin with most of their smaller minis (they'll be keeping plastic with the larger miniatures for now). No longer packaged in those large boxes, they're moving back to the clamshells they once used for their special edition lineup:

 

And they had those minis assembled, and mostly painted to show off:

 
Codebreaker

 
Sebastian Cross as a Questing Knight

 
Alex

 
Calico Cate

 Ninja Division has also announced that they'll be publishing the Alien Vs Predator miniatures board game, and had some of that to show off:

 

 They also had quite a bit of area to demo Dropzone Commander, along with a very full case showing off the small scale minis. Personally, I'm a sucker for the 30mm scale version of their mech:

 

 And they had some of their Ninja All stars painted up, although there weren't any for sale (or demos). Turns out I liked the Yamazaru the best.

 

 

 

 And I had to bring home a plushy Cola for my three year old. She imediatly declared that she's Candy and went off to fight monsters (there was something so right about that Super Dungeon coloring book).

 

Photos from Gencon: Kingdom Death

Ok, maybe it took all week for me to get my life back in order after the best four days in gaming, but here I am, and I've got loads of pictures to share. I must say, I was very happy to hear that Kingdom Death would have a booth in the dealer's hall this year. Although they didn't have any of their beautiful resin minis to sell (boo!) they did have quite a bit to show off, including a demo of the much anticipated game- Kingdom Death: Monster.

 

 Players take up roles in a colony of humans living in a horrific hell dimension, where life is short and brutish (death is very commonplace in the game, and players will need to bring in new characters somewhat often).

 The gameplay more closely resembles an RPG than pretty much any board game I've played- except without a GM. In combat, monsters actions are dictated by an AI deck (each monster has his own set of cards). The cards describe unique actions, and unique effects. Also of note, when you score a hit on a monster, you draw a card from the monster's wound deck telling you exactly where you hit it, and what happens if you succeed or fail to hurt it. All of the descriptions really give a sense of heroism and desperation that is present when you're running a game with a good GM.

 

 Of course, all of those unique cards add up, and the game has ended up being tremendously heavy. It does seem like they've considered how much sorting this game might require.

 

 We all know that the overloaded of plastic minis is what we'd like to see

 

The game comes with three beastly monsters, and three intelligent ones. The encounters with them are very different- while colonists might choose to hunt down a lion or phoenix for resources, they're really best off if the passing Kingsman or Watcher just ignore them (and they might, based on how the players have run their colony).

 

I got to talk a little with Adam Poots (owner of Kingdom Death, and creative director of everything involved). He told me that in transferring the monstrous miniatures from resin to plastic, they increased the size on almost all of them. This is because the detail on the resin kits was so great that the plastic wouldn't hold it. (Anyone who has painted up some Kingdom Death minis will know about the fine detail work). Honestly, I feel that these plastic kits look pretty fantastic, and I'm quite eager to get a Watcher and Phoenix for myself.