SUPER DUNGEON EXPLORE!!

Eeeeeeeeeee! Super Dungeon Explore is here, yippie!! Well I have been downright giddy today since receiving my set of miniatures for Super Dungeon Explore, a game still in development by Soda Pop Miniatures. This release represents what they say is only the beginning for their new dungeon-crawl miniatures strategy game. Supposedly inspired by old school video game classics like The Legend of Zelda and Gauntlet among others, it promises to be a quick, easy to play, and light-hearted gaming experience. And yes, I am indeed quite excited about this one. :)

To challenge the initial batch of five heroes, the first set of monsters made available are the Kobolds and they are absolutely adorable! I would have bought these miniatures just to paint such cute little critters so the fact that there is a game to go along with them is an awesome bonus for me. The last few nights I've studied the downloadable rules pdf for the demo version of Super Dungeon Explore and am now even more excited as it seems like it will be a genuinely enjoyable game with a lot of room for future development. It sort of reminds me of the old Milton Bradley HeroQuest game, another staple of my gaming adolescence. The full version of the game hasn't even been released yet and already I have lots of ideas for what I'd like to do with it so I think that is all rather encouraging.

I currently have a lot on my hobby plate but that's not going to prevent me from putting in some time this weekend with my new toys. They're simply too tempting for me to resist. Right away upon seeing the basic 25mm slotta-bases that come packaged in the Super Dungeon Explore blister packs I realized that I want to mount them instead on some fancy resin bases. As luck would have it I even have leftover from another project an ideal set of bases to use, the Sanctuary style round bases from Dragon Forge Design. I think they work quite nicely representing the cold stone floor of a dank, gloomy dungeon. Woohoo!

You can see in the following photos the quick progress I've made on them with only a short amount of time sitting at my desk tonight. So far I've assembled the Human Paladin and the two Kobold Flingers and prepared all the necessary pins I will use for securing the miniatures to their resin bases. I plan on mounting the treasure chests that come with the heroes on bases as well so I also drilled and pinned the first of these this evening too.

I'm really looking forward to diving into this game as quickly as I can and will no doubt try to sneak in some brush time for these Super Dungeon Explore miniatures in the coming weeks. I know that it was only a couple days ago in my previous post that I talked about focusing in on the Dark Elves in preparation for Adepticon but it would be unrealistic for me to expect that degree of exclusivity from my hobby. Nonetheless I do seem to have an inordinate amount of distractions.... that is something I never have in short supply. No worries though as it's all just for fun. It would be really cool to have them painted in time to go with me to Adepticon for some after hours gaming silliness. Therefore in addition to all the other projects and games covered here, tonight marks the beginning of what will hopefully be an amusing and perhaps somewhat different type of hobby adventure.

Wait... what am I saying? It's going to be SUPER HAPPY FUN of course. Happy gaming, everyone!

Gratitude! Mystery! Simpsons! DICE!!!

I'm very happy to report about a really amazing surprise that showed up on my doorstep yesterday. Inside an innocent looking box addressed to yours truly, I found a four-pack of Duff Beer cans. What's this, then? Even more exciting, upon closer inspection I discovered that it was in fact a set of 20 custom Simpsons dice!

WOOOO-HOOOO!!!

The facings are as follows: Homer - 6, Barney - 5, Carl - 4, Lenny - 3, Moe - 2, Duffman - 1 (labeled as W on the die for "Wild"). So it looks like in most cases I'll want to see lots of Homers, except for those Leadership checks when I need the courage only Duff can provide. Perfect, just perfect!

I have a fascination for odd or unusual dice and I've never seen any Simpson dice before. Also I enjoy trying to find a matching set of dice for each new army so this will be the official dice for my Drones of Sector 7G/Blisstonian 9th project. I can also use them for my Stonecutters, and the Emperor's Isotopes as well should I ever get around to making any of them, though I still plan on eventually ordering some chapter-specific dice from Chessex for those armies. But I had no idea what to do for the Blisstonians and was quite distressed over the matter, so this timely arrival nicely resolves that dilemma, and in style too.

Oh yeah, not only is this a super cool set of dice, it seems like Duff Dice, "The Lyin' Dice Game," should be a pretty fun game itself. For two to four players. Groovy.

Looking around the box and shipping papers, however, I see no indication as to who sent this set of Duff Dice to me. It's now been a day since the package showed up and my sleuthing attempts have not turned up anyone I know claiming responsibility, and it would seem I have a true mystery on my hands. Could it be that one of my dear readers was so kind as to surprise me with an awesome Simpsons gift? Well, it's not impossible....

Therefore, in case the anonymous gift-giver should happen to see this post, I want to express my deepest gratitude to you. Thank you so very much. This was such a thoughtful, fun surprise. You really made my day!

Best. Dice. Ever.

Thank you.