Big update on Mortalis

Hi everyone - as usual, updates are far and wide between, but we have some exciting news:

+++ Mortalis 2nd Edition is launched! +++

A year after starting the work on what was to become Mortalis, we've gone through many iterations of the rules. Since this was our first foray into game design, there was some hurdles and a lot to learn along the way. Luckily, we've had the good luck of having some great people around who were willing to read endless variations of rules, playtest, make suggestions and so on.

After thousands of hours and many months of hard work, we think we've arrived at a good spot for the rules - many things have been improved, little things ironed out, wordings have been clarified, and it's just overall become a much more solid ruleset.

Therefore we thought we'd celebrate (and make a fresh start of sorts) by launching Mortalis 2nd Ed. Alongside the rules rewrite, we've tried our best to make a really cool looking Core Rules book, with lots of great illustrations and a nice layout.
For those of you that have read or played the previous version, here is a list of some of the biggest changes:

• A move to www.playmortalis.com - we needed a proper domain. 
  
  
• Overall tightening up of all the rules - better wordings, better flow and better readibility.
  
  
• Terrain rules have been changed to be simpler, easier to remember and implore the Players to actually get onto buildings.
  
  
• The Fighter Builder Compendium is no more. We realized that very few people downloaded it, and it was a big hassle to keep it updated. The Fighter Forge App has gotten so good, that it is not needed anymore, so we let it go. For anyone interested, you can grab a (non-updated) version of it in the Downloads section.
  
  

Take a look at all the cool new stuff - I really hope you'll enjoy it. :) 

Best regards, Rasmus. 


Oh! And just to show that I'm still actually playing with little plastic soldiers, here's my recent Eldar Team: 

The big launch of Encounter 28 - our very own game system.

 Hi guys and girls. 

We've been playing around with the game system (Encounter 28) we developed over the summer, and playtesting it, tweaking it, and generally having a really good time with it. I genuinely think anyone who likes skirmish games should give it a try - it has completely taken over the spot as the main game for me, and sidelined Kill Team completely. 

Anyway, lots of new stuff has come along since the first reveal in july - we've updated the Datacards with cool new graphics, and gotten online Fighter Builder Apps made (to make it easier to make your own Fighters for the Team/Warband)... 

Wait a minute - did I say Warband? Wasn't this a Grimdark Futures Skirmish game? 

Yes. Yes it was. And it still is. However, Andreas (old timers here may remember some of his posts), Allan and I talked a bit, and we thought "well, if the system works so well, why not try giving it a fantasy reskin?" - so we did. 

It, of course, ended up being much more involved than that, not only because there was 80+ pages to make new layouts, graphics, logos, etc for, but also because we wanted it to feel more like it's own game, and not just a refresh. We did that by making the weapons selection somewhat different - in the fantasy version, there's a rather short list of generic close combat and ranged weapons you choose, and then upgrade them with various special rules for additional points - it feels kinda cool to be able to give you champion not just a sword, but a fiery, mastercrafted sword. 

Also, since ranged fighting naturally isn't quite as dominating as in the Grimdark Scifi version, we wanted Magic to take more of a big role. We're quite proud of the magic system, which is reminiscent of blackjack, and we'd love for you to check it out. :) 

However, it's still important to note that while there are differences between the two systems, they are quite small, and the basic mechanics remain the same. If you are familiar with one of them, it'll take you less than 5 minutes to get to know the other. But since there are two settings now, we decided to keep the name "Encounter 28" for the system, and call the two settings "Mortalis" and "Dark Realms" respectively. 

We really hope you'll check out the rules, give them a go, and we'd love any and all feedback. :) 

Go check out the rules (remember, everything there is COMPLETELY FREE - and will stay that way) at 

https://www.encounter28.com/

or check out the two settings here:

This fantasy side of things have also reawakened the fantasy geek in me, that I'd sort of forgotten, but I've gotten really inspired by the system, and have been frantically building cool Warbands for Dark Realms (the ability to make ANY Fighter and place it in ANY kind of Warband is sooooo freeing for a mad converter like me), and I've even entered the 21st millenium and gotten myself a Bambu A1, like any self respecting geek. It's been a busy little robot and has been printing lot's of fantasy terrain for my table - more on the Warbands and terrain soon, for now, go check out the system! :) 

Bitter Old Painters are making their own game!

It's been a while, but we haven't been idle at all - never!

While most of the lack of updates just comes down to us being worthless at updating this blog (by the way, the Creations of Bile team are finished, and will get on here soon!), for the last couple of months we've been trying to make our own game!

*fanfare*

Encounter 28!

https://encounter28.blogspot.com/

Encounter28 is a fanmade ruleset for small sci-fi skirmishes in a grimdark future. See where this is going? (As if you didn’t already have that figured out from the first glance at the cover of these rules…)

That being said, you can use any miniatures and setting you like. The beauty of this hobby is that the rule of cool is always king.

“But… There IS already an official skirmish game in the grimdark future?”
Yes. And we’ve played it quite a bit, being huge fans of the setting, the lore, the miniatures, the art - we love everything about it. Except perhaps the game itself. We’re old. Bitter Old Painters, y’know? And being old and bitter, we just don’t have the necessary memory to remember a bunch of special rules, the processing power to navigate a huge amount of synergies, and actually have a good time playing the game. We just want to play with our little plastic soldiers, and tell a good story while doing it.


Hence the “28” moniker; about a decade and a half ago, a grassroots movement called Inq28 surfaced. The idea was inspired by GW’s long abandoned game “Inquisitor”, where the story, the miniatures and the setting is much more important than things like perfectly balanced rules, min-maxed lists and winning. It grew into a huge community, and Instagram and Pinterest are absolutely brimming with amazing miniatures, converted and painted to emphasize the “Grimdark”, the “Blanchitsu” and the dark, damp corners of a gothic future. We heartily recommend searching for “Inq28” and getting inspired by the amazing stuff people come up with.


… But we digress; this isn’t a ruleset for someone looking for a tight, complex and competitive game, with constant balance updates. GW does that very nicely with Kill Team. This ruleset is made for anyone looking for something a bit lighter, much more flexible in regards to building a team, and just wanting to move their cool little plastic dudes around and hopefully have a lot of fun doing it.
We’ve gotten ideas from lots of place, too many to mention - We’ve basically taken things we like the most from the official Grimdark Future Skirmish Game, combined it with a lot of stuff stolen from a lot of different wargames, and forged it all into Encounter28.


The most important things to us were that the game should be fast to play (about an hour), easy to learn, the rules should be simple enough to quickly fade into the background (only about a page of rules pr. Action), so the story takes the lead, and flexible enough to let you use pretty much any miniature or conversion you like. If this sounds interesting, please go to https://encounter28.blogspot.com/ and check out the rules. They're completely free and will continue to be so. 


We hope you enjoy it, and please send any critique or suggestions to bitteroldpainters@gmail.com; we’d love any and all feedback.


Thanks a lot for getting through this wall of text - have fun!

Rats!

Been working a bit more on the rat warband - it's starting to come together. I think I've solved the issue about the Warlocks claw - I really wanted him to have a mechanical claw, but the first iteration was to orky and big. This is cobbled together from some Dark elf spiky things, and a Kataphron servitor claw. He also got an extra mechanical arm with the warploque pistol, just because:

I also made the second rat ogre for the warband - just a IoB rat ogre, with an extra arm added and another head - and a bit of a repose. I really like those rat ogres, but I wanted to tweak it a bit. I'm also contemplating giving him a warpfire gun and a mechanical claw on the lower left arm, but I'm a bit stumped about what to use for the warpfire gun.

And a group shot, also including my gutter runner with a little gas mask:

What's this then... Scenery?

I hope you've all had a happy new years eve, and gotten a good start on 2018. :)

I've been really busy on the wargaming front, but there's little to no progress on the warbands though - for the past two weeks I've been mainly focused on developing and playtesting the AoS skirmish rules I'm working on ( http://aos28warband.blogspot.com - please check them out) and getting a wargaming table and terrain done for the man cave at Casa De GuitaRasmus. 

I've always really liked the Warhammer terrain GW made about 5-6 years ago, but at that time I was only messing with 40k, so I didn't buy any. Fast forward to Age of Sigmar, where GW, for reasons unknown, decided to stop producing some of their coolest stuff - and the prices on ebay are atrocious. 

Still, I've managed to get my dirty mittens on some different stuff on various used warhammer stuff channels, facebook groups, etc. for reasonable money, and I've gotten my hands dirty (literally - there's SO much paint on these houses, compared to miniatures) stripping them of paint. 

I've got a watchtower and another chapel still in the stripper, but I'm working towards getting some cool stuff: 

The Temple of Skulls is from an old project, an Armies on Parade board for my Khorne Berzerker army that never got done, and it had been saved apart, so I had to painstakingly glue it back together, and sculpt a lot of seams - good times. 

This is an experiment, I wanted to do a mansion of sorts, but a bit more elaborate than just the fortified manor - so I took another chapel, chucked it on top of a watchtower base, and made the little sentry house a part of the house. I kinda like it, it seems fittingly ramshackle. I still need to make some stairs for the door on the top house, and some kind of walkway around the top house. 

I also really wanted a Skullvane Manse (and a Dreadstone blight as well), but the used kit prices are absolutely insane - 300-350 pounds on ebay - so I had sort of given up on them. Imagine me squeeing with joy, when I saw the Malign Portents video, featuring the Skullvane Manse and the Dreadstone Blight - they're coming back!! I'm definitely getting both. 

*Warning - bitter old painter's rant incoming*

On a side note, it really bugs me when people act like scalpers - for example trying to sell a used Skullvane Manse at grossly inflated prices on ebay. Sure, I get the whole supply and demand thing, but seriously - you are just holding plastic hostage.

You are the war-games equivalent of the guys who fill their spare rooms with Dinky Toys still preserved in their antique packaging. The people that care are an ever decreasing circle of like minded hoarders who all dream of turning up on Antiques Roadshow with a blister or box that will pay for your dream retirement village.But thats not going to happen. Because GW is re-releasing the kits and you are left with a pipe dream of a wallet full of scalpers money.

There - that was good to get off my chest. ;) 

This weekend I put my shop teacher skills to work, and started work on my foldable 5x4' table - the base is done, and it folds neatly in half, though I still need to figure out what to do for legs. I'm also considering making it a 4x3' instead, for size reasons, and because skirmish/kill team battles seem very doable on 3x3'. 

Why the extra feet in width then? It dawned on me that it would be a necessity to have somewhere to put ones warscrolls, dice, slain miniatures etc. 

The more things change...

... The more Tzeentch likes 'em!

A few updates from my friday evening - the wife was exhausted and the kitten got neutered today, so they both went to sleep early - meaning hobby time for me!

I've been working on the Troll for my Tzeentchian warband - I've wanted to make a downright FUBAR'ed chaos troll for some time, and what better chaos god than Tzeentch to FUBAR something? His background story, which I'll come around to soon, is that he was a nice, regular, barbarian-eating stone troll from the north, who somehow had the misfortune of running into a spawn, eating it and the rest... Well, it was a meal that didn't end well.

I know it's a mess right now, but I promise it'll start to make sense, once I get some greenstuff on him - or not, which is probably good, since it's a Tzeentchian Troll. ;)

There's so many different parts involved, that I can't even begin to make sense of them - mad props to anyone who can name them all.

The other update is a couple of simple conversions - a Chaos Warrior of Tzeentch (based on a blood warrior) and a Pink Horror from the Silver Tower box, with a couple of arms added (to get rid of some of the "blister pack syndrome" he suffers a bit from.)

WIP update!

Hi guys - I've definitely not been idle since my last post, in fact I've been incredibly inspired by this new project, and I've been converting and building like crazy - only problem is, that I'm so inspired by this thing, that I'm actually working on 6(!) different warbands at the moment - Undead, Skaven, Greenskinz, Tzeentch, Slaanesh and Sylvaneth - and I've bought some miniatures for a Kharadron warband as well - that I haven't actually really finished anything. Story of my hobby-life. Oh well, always follow inspiration.

I got hold of a lot of cool bitz from my buddy Allan, and amongst these was a vampire queen torso - it looked so cool that I had to do something with it, so I made a new leader for my undead:

Her background story and a more finish conversion will follow soon.

I also made a somewhat chunkier than usual Grave Guard for my warband, the second in command of my Vampiress:

He's bases on a blood warrior, with all the detail scraped off and his armour dremeled to hell and back. 

Also, I've got a bit of progress on my Greenskinz warband. The idea is that the little Shaman, Giflip the Magnificent (he has titled himself, btw) has somehow found a special brew of madcap mushrooms, that gives him the ability to control the minds of other greenskins - which he puts to good use, by assembling a little army of VERY nasty looking big guys. 

Giflip himself: 

His bodyguard, Gulg the Stone Troll (needs a lot of stones sculpted, obviously)

And some 'Ardboys thrown in for good measure - I've also got two Orruk Brutes on the way: 

Hopefully more updates later this week!

Cairn Wraith

I wanted a Cairn Wraith as a leader for my warband, but having used the (admittedly brilliant) original model for 2 or 3 conversions already, I wanted to try out something different. One of the Skeletons from the Shadespire pack already has a scythe and some kind of hood, so I had a plan...

I used the "dress" from the Tomb Banshee as the bottom of the miniature, cut the skeleton in half and pinned them together. A bit of dremel work, some tattered cloak bits from the new Death Guard and some green stuff, and I have what I think is a nice take on a cool character.

More non-40k... What is this madness?

I really enjoyed painting the spirit host from my last post - so much so, that an idea started brewing in my head. Ideas are dangerous that way. Before I knew it, I was furiously browsing the web for inspiration, and I got inspired to start dabbling with AoS skirmish - using about 250 pts for each warband. The concept is brilliant for me, since I am a notorious hobby butterfly, so a small warbands are a manageable task, which I should (emphasis on SHOULD) be able to actually finish. Also, I've always had a thing for skirmish gaming - it often makes for better stories in my experience, and the task of setting up and playing isn't as big as it is for a 2000 pts. standard 40k game.

Anyway, here is my Vargheist conversion - I wanted him to have arms, since I thought they looked weird without them - I also shaved off a little of the top of his head, giving him a little less cone-head look:

I also got hold of the Sepulchral Guard Shadespire pack today - what a brilliant bunch of models. Best plastic skeletons I've seen, that's for sure:

The plan for the warband is a follows:

Leader:

Cairn Wraith

Units:

1 Vargheist
1 Spirit Host
1 Black Knight
2 Grave Guard
4 Skeleton Warriors.

I might exchange the black knight for another Grave Guard and a Skeleton Warrior, but we'll see.

As I told you, ideas are dangerous; I've started rummaging through my embarrassingly big bits collection, and I have A LOT of bits for Fantasy, since I've always liked using bits from that range for 40k conversions. I found a Stormfiend kit, and an idea started coming together.

Skweek was born a runt of the litter, which is the same as a death warrant in the Skaven community. Not only was he very small, he was almost hairless, hunchbacked even by skaven standards, and had stumpy deformed limps. He was abandoned, and left to die. By blind chance he managed to survive his first years in the tunnels, scurrying in the shadows and learning the skaven tongue by listening to the chatter of others, though he was still a deformed and measly excuse for a clan rat - by this time some of his teeth had grown through his palate, the way rodent's teeth tend to do when not used enough - and food was a rare luxury for Skweek. He heard the legends of Skweel Gnawtooth whispered and he realised that Skweels story was not unlike Skweeks - although Skweek sorely lacked the legendary packmasters affinity for beasts and giant rats. Still he dreamt of becoming more than just prey for a giant rat in the tunnels...
In time Skweek found the workshops of Clan Skryre, and was amazed at the wonders they produced. When the workshops were mostly abandoned in times of war, he would walk the floors, and marvel at the incredibly technology. He stole small knick-knacks, cogs and whatever else he could get his hands on - as the next few years went by, he built small mechanical devices, and discovered that he had an affinity for technology - and he kept dreaming. 
One day, an opportunity arose, as Skweek saw a slumbering sedated stormfiend awaiting maintenance and upgrades. He knew instinctively that this was his one chance. He patiently awaited till the workshop was empty and acted quickly - his theory was that the shriveled pilots on the stormfiends back depended on his bigger partners vital fluids, but the Stormfiend much less so. He acted quickly and stabbed the diminutive pilot with a shard of metal from the floor and promptly removed the husk from it's seat. Skweek was ecstatic, this was his shot-chance, this was great, nothing could stop-stop him now... Except that he had not thought his plan through. The sedation was rigged to the pilots brain, and with the pilot very much dead-dead, the giant Rat Ogre began to awaken. It rose, and blinked a few times, and Skweek, who had seen the carnage these creatures could cause when running rampage, knew he was done for. It rose above him, 8 times his height, and looked upon him, Skweek readying for the deadly blow. He closed his eyes and... 

Nothing. Nothing happened. He dared to look and saw the rat ogre studying him, sniffing, and then turned away, walking towards a tunnel. Skweek was dumbfounded, even more so when the Rat Ogre suddenly dropped to one knee, then to the floor. He slowly approached the gigantic creature, and when he came close he saw a small dart sitting in it's neck - he had seen these before, a tranquilliser dart Clan Skryre used to avoid... Unfortunate events. A shadow formed behind him, and he turned to run, but was quickly grabbed in a mechanical claw, his throat squeezed hard, he struggled for air and passed out. 

When he woke he was chained, and the Warlock Engineer from the workshop, known as Critch Cinderborn, stood before him. He demanded to know what Skweek was up to. Skweek knew that he was a good as dead now. He had the choice of telling the truth and dying quickly or lying and dying in the torture chambers, so he chose the truth. He told his story as quickly as he could, while the Warlock listened. 

The warlock had watched the entire spectacle from afar, and was intrigued - for some reason the Rat Ogre had not shown agression towards Skweek. This was interesting - could it be that his diminutive size rendered him as little more than the vermin and rats frequenting every corner of every skaven tunnel? No matter what, this was an opportunity to further evolve on the Stormfiend project - the diminutive pilots were a hassle to breed, install and had a tendency to burn out in the midst of battle. Could tiny skaven handlers be the answer? He would have to study this pathetic little excuse for a skaven, and his interaction with the Rat Ogre. 

Much to Skweeks surprise, he wasn't killed immediately after his explanation. Even more surprising to him, the Warlock made him an offer - if he would be part of a new experiment, and train with the Rat Ogre as it's handler, his life would be spared - for now. He took the offer without blinking, yes-yes, for sure, no hesitation, and spent the next months in the training pits of Clan Moulder, learning to handle and steer a Rat Ogre, using bait, simple commands and his spiky stick for getting it's attention - and learning to get out of the way when it grows tired of being bossed around. 

Critch watched the strange symbiotic relationship between the two develop during Skweeks training, and was intrigued at the development - this could surely be a breakthrough in the Stormfiend program, but he would have to make further research, and test the subject in the midst of battle to see if the bizarre partnership would be useful in the heat of battle-battle. As such, he would bring Skweek along on the next few upcoming missions, of course-course with a bodyguard of some his finest StormVermin, should the situation get out of control. 

Skweek was happier than he could have imagined. He had it all; food, a place to sleep, a 10 feet tall bodyguard to fend off any unwanted afflicters - and as he lay down beside the slumbering (though admittedly very foul smelling) Rat Ogre he had affectionately named Rat Pitt, he dreamt of ripping through the enemies of Skavenblight, riding the back of Rat and squeezing the trigger of the gigantic Ratling Cannon on it's back. 

With that wall of text overwith, I hereby present the start of another warband;

Skweek and Rat Pitt:

WIP of course, with the models concept shamelessly stolen from the Trollbloods Dire Troll Blitzer. I'm not sure what the rest of the warband is going to be yet, but I really like this guy.

All comments are welcomed as usual. :)