Its hard to believe another week passed by, particularly when I look at what I worked on and what I have left to do. I had to get up earlier than usual for a couple of things this week, which meant I was more tired than usual so I decided to play it safe and keep working on the Arkham Organizer. I got a decent amount of pieces finished for it including the Neighborhood Connecter piece holder.
The Anomaly holder, which has a decent glow effect that I added.
The clue holder which has some nice engraving on it that you mostly can’t see when all the clues are placed inside.
And finally, the most creative piece I worked on is the investigator/scenario holder which has some nice engravings on it.
Here they are together on my hobby desk which looks like a Jackson Pollack painting because I’ve been so messy hobbying on it!
As much as that looks like, I’m still about halfway or maybe one third of the way done at this point. So this project is going to continue on for quite some time. There is part of me that wants to just keep working until its done. However, as I discussed, I really need to get moving on Lokaris and my plan is to pick that back up this week and see if I can’t move forward with it.
This week was somewhat exciting because I made a couple of acquisitions. I bought some more Monsterpocalypse minis for the diorama. I’ll share those down the road when I paint them. They’re small and won’t take long to crank out. I also spent a little bit of the money I made selling the Goblin Town army to get this big boy.
It is limited to 299 copies so I really wanted to grab a copy before it sells out. I opened and inspected it and everything looks nice on the sculpt so I’m very happy with the purchase and look forward to painting it in five years or so as I get caught up on my display painting backlog. I’ve got three display projects to start and two that I’ve started and need to finish at this point, which is a bit more than I would like, truthfully.
And finally, I have the long promised “report” from playing Hellboy again. I was in an experimental mood when playing Hellboy this time because I tried two different things with somewhat interesting results. In the first game, I tried using only human investigators, because I’d never done so before and because I’ve more recently painted enough that I can finally field a team of them. For this attempt, I selected Professor Broom, Kate Corrigan, and Bud Waller. Two of three have decent shooting ability and as a group they’re strong at obtaining clues so I had some hope that it might work on an easier scenario.
Unfortunately, the one area they are weak in, melee combat, proved to be a problem. The game started off okay and I was able to handle the first room or two but then I got a nasty Doom card, Unseen Assailant which spawns a stealthy minion, in this case a frog that can only be killed in melee. I had to burn an expensive item, best used on a boss, to deal with it.
The real problem though was jamming weapons. Both Bud and Kate had their pistols jam/run out of ammo which caused the damage on them to start piling up. If you haven’t played Hellboy before, there is a blue die which has all but one side with positive effects, if you roll a skull while shooting, you almost always fail to hit anything and if you are firing a ranged weapon, you then have to then spend two action cubes to reload. It is always costly but when you’re dealing with fragile characters, it means life or death. Ultimately, this was the undoing of Bud and then Kate. I conceded at that point because Professor Broom can’t damage enemies almost at all and he was the only one still standing.
After a very quick defeat, I decided I’d experiment a bit more but in a different manner. For the second game, I decided to try using two agents for the first time in a long time. In the rules, it says this is how you play solo. Since it was already setup, I did the same case and I decided to use Roger and Abe Sapien. Abe is a great all around character. He can pretty much do everything, except defend against enemies well. Roger is a tank and has great melee and defense. The problem is that Roger expends energy with each attack and so his attacks become weaker and weaker over time, until you rest and recharge him. Rest advances the enemy timer (which summons the boss quicker and causes you to lose essentially) so you have to do so carefully. I’ve never been able to get Roger working in a way that makes me want to pick him over Hellboy and was curious if I could change my fortunes here at all.
I was cruising with Roger and Abe through most of the scenario until the boss spawns. For this case, it is Ghostly Rasputin who can’t be killed and you have to help a B.P.R.D. agent off the board which takes quite a lot of time as you slowly move each turn. Rasputin is trying to kill you each turn in the meantime. The problem I ran into with Roger was that he was low on energy right before the boss and I didn’t have a chance to recharge him before Rasputin. Once the boss spawns, you can’t rest any longer as well. Rasputin made things worse by spawning 5 frogs in total and eventually, Roger couldn’t damage them any longer which guaranteed that we couldn’t win, even with Abe nearing the exit.
So this experiment didn’t work even if it was a fun game up until the very end. I would have won with a third investigator, I reckon, and I was reminded that the game is balanced well for two investigators UNTIL you get to the boss which does not scale with the player count in any way. I struggle to remember all of the abilities of three characters (even two isn’t easy sometimes) but I still enjoy the game even with that and it doesn’t feel like it affects the outcome overall.
Most importantly, the terrain looks great and works well too. The only thing I noticed which was disappointing is that some of the corners of the cardboard tiles are looking a little worse for wear. I’m not sure if you can repair those much as they bend and split. Unfortunately, nobody has made any 3D printer STLs for that sort of thing either so in the future, I may have to look at other options like Dungeons & Lasers or maybe even scratch building some terrain tiles, if need be. It might not sound like it considering the results but I had a good time playing, especially the second attempt which was pretty engrossing. Hellboy is a great dice-chucking game. The strategy is pretty straightforward and so are the rules which makes it pretty relaxing to play.
That’s pretty much my week done and dusted. I will likely have a couple of surprise “bonus” articles coming up as neither focus on the wargaming hobby but still might be of interest to some of you. I look forward to carving out the time needed to write them so that I can can share them.
Kuribo's Painting 
Nice battle reports, sounded like you had a fun time on the last run! And the board looks amazing!
I like the holders you have done nice and clean and likely very useful.
The new big model (orc?) looks excellent I look forward to 5 years time when you start to paint him 😀
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Thanks, mate! It was nice to see the new terrain in-game for sure. I look forward to the big demon miniature for sure. The good news about having to wait five years is that it will give some time to figure out how I want to paint him. I have no ideas currently! 🙂
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Great progress on your organiser, and can fully understand wanting to get it finished.
Your new model looks great, and glad it’s a good cast.
Great games, and always worth trying new things, means you can keep learning and improving. The scenery and models look fantastic together.
as for the cardboard on the corners, pva glue painted in, then cover in cling wrap, and clamp until dry (usually 24 hours). make sure not to over fill with glue as it will fill the cling wrap and leave odd patterns on the corners.
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I somehow found something more mind-numbing than terrain with the organizer so it certainly puts things into perspective.
Glad you like the new 75mm miniature too. I suppose its pretty Warhammer adjacent which is a good thing in my book.
I will definitely file your suggestion away for when it gets worse! I’m surprised you can repair it that easily but I’m glad to hear it all the same.
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Good to see a bookcase, desk and pile of books getting in the action, Jeff! 🙂 All sounds good!
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Cheers, John! It was nice to put them into use and to play Hellboy again for the first time in a while 🙂
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I have had similar results to Dave with thin glue on card, I painted the edges of my Battle Systems terrain with a PVA/paint mix and that’s kept the edges really crisp!
Once again, your Hellboy minis are weakening my resolve, dammit! The game looks amazing, and those minis are aces all around!
Are there any other games that would benefit from scratch-built “spooky house” terrain like in Hellboy? It could be a fun project… not like you (or any of us) need more projects!
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Glad to hear that fix has worked for you too. I’ve filed it away for the future as I’m sure I’ll need it eventually.
I’m both glad and sorry to tempt you with Hellboy as I know you have plenty of projects currently! The miniatures are board game quality but I’ve gotten some decent results with them, which I’m thankful for.
Your question is a good one! There are definitely indie games in the paranormal wargaming space that would work, though I’m not very familiar with any of them, truthfully. I would think any similar, thematic board games like Cthulhu Death May Die are strong candidates too. The Wizard’s Workshop terrain (the dresser, bookshelf, and pile of books in the photos) work well for fantasy settings so they’re definitely multi-use in that sense. I wouldn’t hesitate to drop them into a fantasy game that has some interior terrain.
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Your storage units are coming along nicely, should make setup and storing afterwards so much easier.
It is amazing how much painted game figures and terrain add to the enjoyment of a game. Puts you into it vs being a bystander. Well written battle report as usual.
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I’m looking forward to seeing how much easier it makes things. That will be a recurring theme over the next year or so as I try to get organized and improve my storage across a few different games.
Agreed. Its well worth the hobby time to ensure that you have painted terrain and miniatures to create the world in which you’re gaming.
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Wow! Painted Hellboy looks like such an amazing game! I’ll have to try to make more of an effort, because seeing this is really quite inspiring. I did make a valiant start with ten zombies for Zombicide, but that seems to have quickly gone by the wayside. As Zombicide was going to be my gateway into painting Hellboy, it probably won’t happen anytime soon… I very much agreed with you on playing 3 investigators rather than 2, even if that’s how it’s meant to be played when running the game solo. I have the feeling that doing so, one of the investigators must be Hellboy, because he has the gun and the stone right hand, but who knows. Playing three human investigators was very brave, at least!! 😃 I think I only played against Rasputin’a ghost once and it was not a good experience 🤣
I really like this Arkham organiser! I think I told you in another comment that I did look it up on their website and it looks majestic, though apparently it takes up the space of two core boxes?! I’m very much looking forward to seeing it completed, at any rate!
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Cheers, mate! I hope it was worth the wait 🙂 Zombicide does have a fair bit of repetition in what you’re painting, to be fair, as there are a LOT of zombies to get through. I am glad you think the same on 3 investigators. I think I pretty much always play with that many as 2 just doesn’t cut it. I don’t think you can beat the harder scenarios with 2, even with Hellboy, though I could be wrong on that. Rasputin’s ghost is pretty tough and can be quite dangerous depending on what behavior cards you draw. Its definitely different to not be trying to take down the boss for once too!
Yes, the organizer is designed to fit within two bigger Arkham boxes. They show the Core Box and the Dark Waves boxes in a Youtube video. That will be tricky for me as I don’t have that expansion yet and my Core Box is damaged thanks to bad shipping/packing. Once I get it all done (in 2027!), we’ll see how it all works together.
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Awesome work all round but I am super duper excited to see you paint that big green monster. Maybe for Orktober? Hehe
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Cheers, mate! Glad to hear you like that sculpt as well. Since it is a chaos demon, I’m not constrained to Orktober so who knows when it will pop-up 🙂
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Nice to see you keep pushing on that organiser, some cool designs there.
Very cool to see your Hellboy setup now after seeing a lot of the individual pieces painted. Sounds like the games were fun even if the outcome wasn’t great for the heroes!
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It will be a relief when its done. The organizer is way more work than I was anticipating!
It was nice to be able to play Hellboy after a bit of time away from the game. It never hurts your hobby motivation to get a game in either, I find!
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I love to get a game report from you, especially with such beautiful minis in the photos. For the first game, are all the characters supposedly equally potent, or are you hamstringing yourself by not bringing Hellboy and the other more fantastical heroes? And in the second game, do you think that you could have escaped by playing a bit cannier or is Roger’s power-down mechanic always putting you at a disadvantage in that scenario?
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I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it 🙂 My wife asks questions like why do you take pictures when you play and I’m not sure if she believes it when I say that some people are curious and want to see photos.
To answer your questions, as it turns out, yes, you are hamstringing yourself by not bringing the fantastical heroes. The human ones have weaker skills/attributes and quite a bit less health so it is very hard to win with them as I discovered. I think you can certainly use one human character to good effect but all of them in a given game.
For your second question, it is possible to play smarter than I did, however, it is tricky in Hellboy because certain things trigger events and if you don’t have the case you’re playing somewhat memorized, its not easy to perfectly plan everything. There is randomization in terms of how the game’s timer advances as well. At the end of each turn, the track may or may not advance depending on what card you draw from the Deck of Doom. So I could have played smarter but its not entirely my fault that I couldn’t. When you compare Roger’s potential moments of diminished usefulness with Hellboy’s constant usefulness, strategically speaking, Big Red is always the better choice in my opinion. A bit like taking a weaker hero in MCP when you take some whose one of the stronger in the game instead, I suppose you could say.
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Thanks Jeff! Well you can tell your wife that you have a legion of adoring fans around the world hanging on your every blog post and waiting for more photos of your beautiful minis 🙂
I appreciate the insight. It sounds like Hellboy specifically is the star of the show, which I guess makes sense since it’s really all about him. But it’s fun that you can play with the other characters in the stories too.
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That’s going to be a tough sell to her, I think. Legion might have to be toned down to 10-15 people to get her to believe it haha!
You’re welcome and you summed up Hellboy pretty well, I’d say.
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