…and it is the JRPG*.

I’ve been playing Tales of Vesperia lately, and as I get further into the game I’ve increasingly become aware of how closely it (and many of its JRPG ilk) fits some of the Fourth Edition tropes:

- A Points-of-Light setting where there are pockets of civilization surrounded by dangerous wilderness (and in ToV, this is a major focus of the plot).
- Ruins of past civilizations containing little-understood magic treasures.
- Dungeons that have puzzles that must be solved/devices that must be operated to complete the task at hand (skill challenges, anyone?).
- Monsters always attack in groups, save for the rare solo boss monster. Even major NPC fights have weaker minions running around and distracting you from the elite leader.
- Magical damage is divided into elemental subtypes, including radiantlight andnecroticdarkness.
- Combat is tactical, with movement, placement, combos, knockdown effects, and status effects being major factors.
- Characters have clearly-defined roles, and have named, repeatable attacks/powers to reinforce those roles.

On that last note, I can even guess the D&D4e classes of each character:

- Yuri (the male protagonist) is a straight-up Fighter, advancing into the Swordmaster paragon path
- Estelle (the female protagonist) is a Cleric, advancing into something healing-related (or the Radiant Servant, if that’s unavailable)
- Rita is a Wizard through-and-through, advancing into a Battle Mage
- Karol is a Fighter with the Warrior of the Wild multiclass feat, possibly taking Ranger as his second class (and trained in Thievery as well).
- Raven is a Ranger (who manages to fight with bows and dual-wield) with the Sneak of Shadows multiclass feat, advancing into the Master Infiltrator paragon path
- Judith is (and I’m guessing here; haven’t seen much of her) another straight-up Fighter, going Kensei and focusing on the spear/polearms

In all honesty, playing this game makes me see just as many elements of JRPGs (or at least those of the Tales series) in 4th Edition as I see elements borrowed from MMOs like World of Warcraft. The fact that JRPGs are mostly focused on telling a story (albeit one that admittedly doesn’t vary much at a fundamental level from JRPG to JRPG) reassures me you can easily have 4e-style combat and not lose any of the roleplaying or storytelling from past editions. If anything, ToV is inspiring me to try running a 4e campaign set in Terca Lumireis (the world of ToV) or something directly inspired by it. I think that there are some interesting opportunities for adventure there, and with some tweaking and twisting to make it my own, it sounds like something I’d like to run.

* Japanese Role Playing Game, for those who are don’t know the acronym.

This month’s painting has been a bit rushed - I blame the sheer awesomeness of Assassin’s Creed (yes, I finally got around to playing a year-old game) for delaying my painting for a week and a half. It doesn’t help that I’m painting three times as many figures as I did last month. The end result is that every night this week has been dedicated to getting painting done.

Progress so far
Cloth under-armor painted: 12/12 Fire Warriors, NA for Gun Drones
Armor base-painted: 4/12 Fire Warriors, 2/2 Gun Drones
Detail work: 0/12 FW (save for the face on my shas’ui), 0/2 GD

On a side note, this month’s painting has given me a chance to try out the GW Citadel Washes, and I have to say that they’re a joy to work with. I used the Badab Black wash on top of Shadow Grey cloth, and it gave me exactly the color and effect I was looking for. I’ve also picked up the Devlan Mud and Gryphonne Sepia washes, and I eventually plan to get the entire set (hopefully before they go up in price).

Over on TauOnline.org, I posted a thread covering my ongoing Tau painting project, and so far it’s been getting a good response. I have been caught off-guard by one particular type of post, though - the request for painting advice. Besides complimenting the final results, people have been asking me about my techniques. This strikes me as odd, because I normally think of advice as being something from experts, and I’m far from being one of those. There are many, many better painters than me out there, so the fact that people are asking me for advice is kind of humbling.

So far, people have asked me:

• how to paint lenses
• how I colored the lines in my armor
• how did I keep the undercoat from showing through the base color
• how to do “plasma effects”, namely how did I make my ’suit weapons glow blue

That last one really boggles me, since the answer is “paint the tips light blue”; I wish there was more to it, but that’s it. The truth is, most of my painting techniques are cribbed off of someone else. I’ve studied all the tutorials I can get my hands on, and I’m still an amateur at best. How to paint lenses? I learned all that from a short-but-informative tutorial on AdvancedTauTactica.com. In fact, the only technique that I’ve really discovered on my own was using a micron pen to color armor gaps, and I know I’m not the only one who does that.

In the end, though, I’m honored that people are asking me for advice. Even if I don’t have any major insights of my own to share, I can pass along the same resources that I’ve studied, and help everyone get better. Beyond that, the only other advice I can offer to anyone is, “Practice, practice, practice,” and, “Don’t be afraid to try new techniques.” Every lens I paint, for example, ends up better than the one before - and I wouldn’t even be painting them if I hadn’t gotten over my worry that I’d muck it up. Sure, the first ones are a little crude, but it’s a matter of laying the foundation and building on it. Will I ever be a Golden Demon-quality painter? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep practicing and improving. That’s the best advice I can give.

After almost two years of having Tau minis and not doing anything with them, I’ve finally been making major progress on getting them all finished. I’ve been painting more figs every month, and getting caught up on construction as well. Yesterday, I finally put together the Armored Interdiction Force (two Hammerheads and a Sky Ray) that I’ve had since last Thanksgiving. I just have to put together my Rapid Insertion Force (9 Crisis Suits, 2 Stealth Suits, and a ton of Gun Drones), and I will finally put together everything I’ve purchased so far (with the exception of a spare Piranha that I’m not planning on using yet). I’m still a long way from being done - there’s a lot of painting and basing and such to do yet - but the end is in sight, and that’s when I can look at filling in holes in my army. A couple of Broadsides and/or some Sniper Drone teams would give me a little bit of everything, and I still need to get a couple of GW’s Shield Drone conversion kits.

And yet, the itch to start a second army is starting to flare up, especially with GW putting out the Assault on Black Reach starter set. I could care less about the Orks (too many models with too many fiddly bits, in my opinion), but the Space Marines are tempting, if for no other reason than to have a second army to lend to friends who want to try the game out. The temptation, though, is one I should avoid for now - while I could get a decent Marine army for around $300 (Black Reach, plus a Space Marine Strike Force), I don’t really have the time to embark upon building another army now. At best, it’d end up at the end of the queue, after all my Tau, and at worst it’d end up distracting me from completing my current work. Maybe in six months to a year - by then, I should have more time and space cleared up for other things - but not right now.

Still, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a very nice temptation…

My August painting project, 150 points of Tau in the form of 3 Stealth Suits and 2 Marker Drones, is painted based, just in time. I continue to refine my lens-painting technique - I’m particularly happy with the ones on the marker drones. On the other hand, the few bits of cloth/fabric, on the upper arms of the suits (under the shoulder guards) didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. I need to work on my blending, and to thin my paints a bit more.