Mister Miracle: My Main Man

Jack Kirby's Mister Miracle 1971

My big excitement came at the end of last week. I finally picked up Mister Miracle #1 from April 1971 in great condition without having to pay a fortune! Whoot! I also picked up some other missing issues from the series, all in near mint condition. I love all the Mister Miracle comics and am a bit of a Mister Miracle fanboy (see his Wikipedia entry). To me, the covers are some of the most exciting DC did during the 1970s because they usually feature Mister Miracle in a death-trap situation that looks hopeless. But we know better!

There were three series. In the first series starting in 1971 and lasting 25 issues, Jack Kirby did the stories and art through issue 18. I love Kirby's writing and art style. To me, Kirby is Mister Miracle for this series. I'm working on completing this set. It can get pricey.

The second series is a 28 issue run starting in 1989. This series features Mr. Miracle and Big Barda having married and trying to live a normal life in suburbia. The take is more humorous than the first series, reflecting the humor of the concurrently running Justice League series, during which the character Mr. Miracle is revitalized and then given his own title again. The writing is crisp and fun, but for me Ian Gibson's artwork really makes the humor in the stories pop for the first five issues.

Ian Gibson's Mister Miracle 1989

 I first saw Gibson's art when reading Judge Dredd comics in early 1980s. I always thought he had a devilish style. Just look at his page from Mister Miracle to the left. I have the entire run of the second series. It's great fun and worth reading. I just wish Gibson had stayed with it more than the first five issues!

The third series is a 7-issue run from 1996. I have this but haven't read it yet, so no comments.

Well, I didn't expect to write this much on Mister Miracle or stay up this late. But I just wanted to share a little bit about a comic series folks might not know too much about. Like I mentioned, collecting the first series can be pricey, so patience is a must. The second series usually can be had very reasonably. Same for the third series.

Clever Models: PDF Model Train Kits For Gaming

This evening, I came across Clever Models. They sell craftsman card stock model railroad kits that you can download and print. They offer a wide variety of models in O (1:48), S (1:64), HO (1:87), and N (1:160) scale all done with photo-realism. The variety surprised me. They have buildings usable for Western gaming (I love the small train station!), pulp gaming, WWII gaming, and more. Nice industrial buildings as well. Prices are very inexpensive IMO.

Though made in model railroad scales, shrinking them to gaming scales should be no problem. The owner even mentions doing this at one point. I'd get the O scale kits for 25mm gaming. You can shrink them as you see fit or use them as is for a slightly larger building. Same goes for 1:72 gaming. The HO buildings will work fine as-is with the new Blue Moon 15mm (aka 18mm) figures, or shrink them a bit for regular 15mm. You get the point.

Below are just a few buildings I like:

A Bugbear Changed My Life

I'm not sure if  mentioned this before on the blog, but my roots in gaming are more RPG than board and miniature wargames. I played my first roleplaying session during Christmas holiday way back in 1978. It was a game of AD&D, a year after it was published. I was in high school at the time and had never heard of AD&D or roleplaying games. My buddy's brother, a  late-era-hippy English major in college, was home from Christmas break. He had been playing AD&D that semester and brought home all his books. I was spending the weekend next door at a mutual friend's house. Late that evening, I found myself in my buddy's rec room next door, the lights turned low. There the four of us sat on the floor--myself, my two buddies, and the college kid Dungeon Master.

Then the explanations began: Dungeon Master? There was an odd term I had never heard of! Oh, like a referee whose also writing a novel. And we're characters in this novel. Ok, and our motive is what? Killing everything in sight and stealing as much loot as possible while getting out alive. Ok. Sounds logical. Oh, and the dungeon is full of bizarre monsters and crazy traps. Kind of like a death trap. It will be a blast! Ok....

Having finished his (really sketchy) explanation of what roleplaying is and what his role is, the DM instructed us to roll up our characters. I never remembered actually picking the Magic User as my character class, but for some reason I wound up with one. I don't even remember his name. All I remember is rolling a '4' for his Hit Points, whatever those were. And that I had no weapons other than my awesome good looks (I think I rolled really high on my Charisma) and one useful spell that I could cast once--the famous Magic Missile. Wow. Needless to say, I spent the entire evening in the back of the party saying things like "Don't let the (fill in the blank monster) kill me!" I found this to be a rather useful tactic.

Though I cowered in fear most of the evening as goblins, spiders, kobolds, and waves of giant rats sprang from dungeon chambers, I had a blast. I really had no idea what was going on! We could have had the worst DM in history for all I knew, but I was having fun imagining all the happenings. It was like I was in one of those radio dramas that I used to love listening to on the local AM radio station at night. (A passion that I still enjoy today.)

My evening of roleplaying ecstasy came to a bloody end sometime after midnight after the parents upstairs had gone to bed. I have no idea how large the dungeon was that we were looting--I mean exploring. I didn't bother paying attention to the scribblings my other two friends were making on the blue-lined graph paper. I was too busy hiding behind the Fighter and Thief, making sure my hair looked its best for someone with such a high Charisma while trying to stay alive. Then it happened. We barged into one too many a dungeon room. It was our "A Door Too Far" moment. Years later, I would come to learn than a group of three Level 1 characters does not stand a chance against an entire room full of bugbears and that only a DM who wants to go to sleep after playing way too late into the night would spring such a trap.

Needless to say, his tactic worked. We rushed into action--a thief, fighter, and a handsome magic user against the odds. One last desperate stand. For the treasure! In all the chaos and angst of a party knowing it's going to die, all I remember is finally getting off my one magic missile. It there ever was a time to launch that (not very) powerful bolt of magic something-or-other at a hideous beast it was now! I announced my attack then waited my turn in the initiative order. Not being very quick--but rather dashing nonetheless--I stood and watched as the bugbears smashed to death the fighter and then the thief, morningstars splitting leather armor like it was some sort of weak clothing instead of armor. Then is was my turn to attack! Let loose the magic missile! I rolled my die. What did I need to roll? A what? Oh whatever, here it goes. The die rolled across the indoor-outdoor carpeting, past the half-full soda cans, coming to rest along side the empty chip bags. Did I hit it? Did I? I waited for what seemed like hours to hear the results of the one amazing attack that I had made all night. So did I hit and kill the bug-bear-thing? The DM looked up at me. Uh...you missed...and the bugbear kills you. Well, thanks for coming over! It's been fun! I'm going to bed....

Wha? I missed? And was killed by a bugbear? Awesome!!!

Though I did little playing that evening other than hanging in the rear while sending out encouraging waves to my fellow dungeon crawlers, I had one of the best times of my life. The evening was emblazoned on my memory, as the cliche goes.

A few years later, I found a copy of a boxed out of print D&D set at a local toy outlet. It cost me $4 and was the first boxed Basic set, with all the blue books. Though I hadn't played an RPG session since that fateful evening when a bugbear split my magic user's skull, I grabbed the box and took it home. It was Christmas 1981. I had graduated high school but had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, going to work in my father's clothing store. Years later, I would learn that D&D saved my life. But that is another story for another time.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Learning About Russian WWII Uniforms

Like many miniature gamers, I have been amassing a collection of Osprey books over the years. Needing information on uniforms so I can paint my 25mm WWII Russian infantry, which I began prepping this evening,I checked the three main Osprey books dealing with the subject: The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945, World War II Soviet Armed Forces 1, and Soviet Rifleman 1941-45. The books cover the subject in great detail and eventually should find their way into your library if gaming the Eastern Front.

I also like looking at reenactor websites. They usually give a history of their real-life unit along with all sorts of detailed info and photos. The 39th Guards Rifle Division was the first Russian group I stumbled upon. It's pretty nice.

Online vendors selling replica uniforms also are a nice help. I never knew there was so much info about the classic Russian winter hat, the ushanka, until I visited The Ushanka Hat Store's website. Though I could have used one of those hats the last few nights here in Central Florida (we've been going down into the 20's at night!), I passed on hitting the 'buy' buttons. I just wanted the photos. Their blog also is a wealth of info about uniform hats. (They sell more than just ushankas!)

My best find online is a free 115 page PDF Russian uniform guide the video game designer Dennis Schwarz wrote for a WWII game. The guide is like a simplified Osprey with history, lots of detailed photos from buttons to tunics (I noticed some are from Trident Military supply), and info about how to replicate proper Russian uniforms in the game, info that can help miniature gamers as well. Every piece of kit. A big help! His weapon loadout PDF is also interesting in a more esoteric way. Check them out at his website here.

Here is his intro for the PDF: "This guide generally divides Russian troops into various time-dependent model sets. There are five sets total: Winter War units ('39-'40), early war soldiers ('41-'43), early war reservists ('41-'43), mid war soldiers ('43-'45) and mid war reservists ('43-'45). The difference between soldiers and reservists basically devides troops in front-line troops, issued the best equipment available and second-line troops, which were issued a lot of surplus wargear. Each of these sets of course requires proper summer, winter and to some extend - camouflaged models."

So that wraps it up for today. Just a quick look at how to find some historical info on Russian WWII uniforms. I'll pass on more info in an organize manner as I find it. Until next time, break out the ushankas and stay warm!

Inspirational Photos For Splintered Light Hares

After scouring the web, these are the photos of hares I've been using as a reference. I also have been using the Redwall covers as a reference, but I've never read the books. I watched a few episodes of the TV show online earlier this year, but it just never grabbed my attention. I just love the Bob Olley figures and am a sucker for anthropomorphic stuff, especially rabbits and mice. Oh, and notice that the inner ears and the nose are not pink!

Painting Splintered Light Hares Again

This afternoon, I once again began working on my Splintered Light hares. It's been several months since I started them and then stopped. The last time I worked on them, I was trying to find the right colors and technique. I did several test figures with varying results. Either the colors just didn't look right, or when they did look good the drybrushing killed my hands. In pain and frustrated, I shelved the figures. Plus, I did not want to start a technique and then change midway.

Having a few spare hours today, I was going to work on the pirates but pulled out the hares instead. Darn it, I love those figures and wanted to figure them out! I think I did. The painting has been going well and the fur looks pretty good. I'll post some photos. My holiday break starts tomorrow and runs about a month, so my goal is to relax a bit and do some modeling/gaming.

The Forces
Below are the figures I bought earlier this year, taking advantage of a 50%-60% off sale. The hares I mentioned above. The rats are primed and up next. I bought some additional figures at Cold Wars since this order, but I can't recall what off the top of my head. The figs will be based for skirmish gaming.

Druid's Children: The Faithful
1x The Faithful Boxed Set Item # DRFA01
1x The Faithful Heroes Item # DRFA02
1x The Faithful Otter Spears Item # DRFA03
2x The Faithful Hare Spears Item # DRFA04
2x The Faithful Hare Archers DRFA05
2x The Faithful Mouse Warriors Item # DRFA07
1x Mouse Spears Item # DRFA08   
1x Hare Swords Item # DRFA14
1x Mole Miners Item # DRFA15
1x Hedgehog Warriors Item # DRFA16
1x Badger Lords Item # DRFA17
1x Heroes Item # DRFA18
1x Mouse Warriors 3 Item # DRFA24
1x Badger Lord in Plate Item # DRFA28
1x Hare Command Item # DRFA20
1x Mouse Command Item # DRFA22

Druid's Children: The Rebels
1x Boxed Set Item # DRRE01
1x Heroes Item # DRRE02
1x Fox Spears Item # DRRE03 
1x Fox Warriors Item # DRRE04
2x Weasel Warriors 1 Item # DRRE05
2x Weasel Warriors 2 Item # DRRE06
2x Rat Warriors 1 Item # DRRE07
2x Rat Warriors 2 Item # DRRE08
1x Weasel Archers Item # DRRE11
1x Rat Slingers Item # DRRE12
1x Kobold Rangers Item # KOBO05
1x Kobold Skirmishers Item # KOBO04