It’s time for the Sunday update! I’d love to say that this week has been full of tons of finished stuff but instead, it’s a little more slow progression. The Ubique post is slowly getting there (once I untangled the previous versions and rewrote a chunk), planning for Zanvult is ongoing and I got a chance to scribble down some more rules elements I want to mess around in my ideas. However, there was a slight minor interruption to hobby time.
STALKER 2 was released! Yep, the game that was announced back in 2010 finally came out, into a world very different. The first STALKER was one of those games that stick in your brain, and I’m glad to say that the sequel feels the same way. It has a few issues (performance feels pretty variable for seemingly random reasons and I had a soft progression lock in the opening) but outside of that, it’s one of the most immersive games of the year. I took Friday off to play it (in several shifts during the day) and would have probably lost my entire weekend to it if I hadn’t had other plans. It’s fantastic, and it’s too easy to get lost in, exploring the world, both looking for loot but just finding cool areas (such as the Poppy Fields above). I can’t wait to get to play some more.
Of course, it’s also a terrible game to play if you’re in the process of 3D printing a set of terrain for a fictional country with Eastern European visual inspiration…
Yeah, I printed a few more buildings for the Shyluz-Tsardom border region. This Small Soviet Rural House from Patrick Miniatures is very familiar after having skirmished through the Zone, and I think would be ideal for scattering around the various battlefields of the upcoming ChargeReal expansion, especially when combined with several other detail elements such as outbuildings, root cellars and more. It’s also a nice variant from the other Rural buildings I’ve printed from Patrick Miniatures, with this one looking slightly more modern. Maybe I’ll get some TV serials or solar panels added to them, ideal for the isolated civilians living in the middle of nowhere. The only downside is that one of the doors has no door panels in the entry way, so I’ll be adding a minor interior door to make them look less zone ruin-y. I’ve also started printing the larger Pripyat Store to match with the smaller one I already have and it’s all perfect to setup a roadside rest area along a major highway – the perfect location to form a strong point out of. And yes, I’m already planning a game based around it.
Finally, I’ve continued my slow march through the BPRE28mm figures I still have to assemble. I’ve just broken out the NITTO Close Combat team, in my preparation to play Spearhead. These two are the Scorch Assault Techs – they still need a little cleaning up (I was assembling them while watching TV) but I’m once again reminded how cool these figures are. Hopefully getting the NITTO guys done should take an evening, and then I can start getting them painted up.
That’s it for this week, with a new update coming next Sunday.
