Gaming with locals: Bangkok

If you are ever in Bangkok, make a short trip to a store named Battlefield Bangkok. Take the BTS line and get off at Punnawithi station.

Take Exit B and walk along the road past car stores and MacDonalds, then turn left at Sukhumvit 101/1, and walk till you arrive at a pale orange building with the sign Golden Pearl Hotel.

The store is on the second level and has been there since 2009. We arrived, unsure of what we would see, but quickly we realized it is several kinds of awesome.

Nat sits at the centre, and we eventually made friends with him talking about RPGs.

They have space for playing games (3 rooms in fact), and one super long wargaming table complete with terrain and miniatures just waiting to be played!

Boardgames line the shelves; walls of shelves selling boardgames, and another separate set of shelves carrying boardgames that people can borrow to play at the store. As it was, several groups were playing games like Civilisation, Hey, That’s My Fish, and Dungeon Quest when we entered. One group just finished Lords of Waterdeep. There were players of different nationalities there.

Nat also tells us that RPGs are played in English, so no worries about not knowing the Thai language to join! It’s an excellent place to chill, play games and meet new folks. Weekends are LCG tournament and RPG days, so do check it out! I know we will definitely drop by for an RPG session the next time we go to Bangkok. (:

Check out their website here.

Gamersaurus Rex Boardgames Auction

Gamersaurus Rex (220A Upper Thompson Road, Singapore) will be having an auction on boardgames, collector items and the like this Sunday (19 Jan 2014).

We’re likely going but they haven’t put up information on the time of the auction and the list of items, so we will see.

Every time we’ve gone to an auction, we’ve bought a number of things (some good buys, some impulsive ones). It’s also plenty fun to use psychology in bidding at auctions, and lots of fun just being there.

Based on the turnouts at this place for tournaments, I wouldn’t be surprised if a tonne of people turn up. Not sure how they will handle this. We’ll see! Shoutout if you’re going to be there or know more about the details!

Paradigm Infinitum Warehouse Sale

Quick shoutout:

Warehouse sale at Kaki Bukit area, Ruby Warehouse Complex – all boardgames, comics, miniatures, terrain, dice, sleeves etc going for 50% off from Paradigm Infinitum!

ONLY TODAY!! TILL 5PM.

See here for more details.

Where can I buy … in Singapore?

In my quest of miniature painting, I’ve done a fair amount of research and visited a number of stores in Singapore to buy different things, also finding out about price discrepancies and product ranges. I decided to amass all this information into this post, which I will update every so often. Feel free to contribute by commenting, and I will put it up to share!

The list is organized by item for now, so ctrl+f what you are looking for. In time to come, I will reorganize the list by location, for everyone’s use!

Bases

Citadel bases from PARADIGM INFINITUM ($13.90)

Brushes

To be added…

Brush cleaner

Brush plus brush cleaner by Plaid
From Art Friend ($2.35 for 59ml)

Card sleeves

Card sleeves from DAISO ($2 for 93 by  66mm sleeves)

Craft knife

From Art Friend (~$10-13)

From DAISO ($2)

Epoxy

Green Stuff from PARADIGM INFINITUM (100g fro $26.90)

Bondite from general hardware stores ($4-5)

Hobby files / needle point files

From DAISO ($2)

Paints and Primer

Citadel paints (LOTS of colours)
From PARADIGM INFINITUM ($6 for 12ml)

Citadel washes
From PARADIGM INFINITUM ($6 for 12ml)

Vallejo paints and inks (LOTS of colours)
From PARADIGM INFINITUM ($6 for 17ml)

Folk Art / Plaid craft paints (even glow in the dark colours)
From Art Friend (~$3 for 59ml)

Army Painter colour primer (green, blue, silver, beige, red, etc)
From PARADIGM INFINITUM ($29.90 for 400ml)

Citadel primer (white or black)
From PARADIGM INFINITUM ($24.90 for 400ml)

Vallejo brush on surface primer (white, black, grey)
From PARADIGM INFINITUM ($….. for 17ml)

Parchment paper / greaseproof paper / baking paper

From PHOON HUAT ($1.40 for ten 60 x 40cm sheets)

Terrain material

Aquarium rocks from DAISO ($2 each)
Inset shows medium (left) and fine (right). There is also a bottle of large rocks, and they come in various colours.

Sheet Moss from Art Friend (~$3)

Treated Lichen from Art Friend (~$7)

Why I went into miniature painting

Why did you go into miniature painting?
I loved roleplaying ever since I was introduced to it (was intimidated for my first game but that went away fast), and miniatures (especially painted ones) bring a spark to the game I feel makes the imagination grow even more.

Numenera, land of craziness born from your imagination’s offspring.

But miniatures are so expensive! How did you take the plunge?
I would say, wait for a sale. Seriously. This hobby is expensive, and I finally catapulted myself into it (that’s how it felt like) when there was a Paradigm Infinitum warehouse sale and tonnes of miniatures and paints (and more) were going for 30% off.

I finally got my hands on some miniatures I really wanted (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Flagellants) and bought a hobby starter set and some ruins as well.

Wait, Paradi- what?
If you live in Singapore and you love to boardgame/roleplay/tabletop wargame, Paradigm Infinitum (PI for short) is The place to go. It’s a great place to check stuff out, and the awesome helpful staff are always ready to help. The other reason you need to know this, especially if you are going into miniature painting, is that they are basically one of the few shops that sells miniature hobby craft paint such as Citadel, Vallejo, Army Colour and related stuff (i.e. primers, textures, epoxy).

That said, my husband went to Funan The Digilife Mall (I still call it Funan The IT Mall) recently and saw a new games store called Battle Bunker (on 19 Nov 2013) that sold tonnes of warhammer stuff, INCLUDING Citadel paints!

So? Can’t I use acrylic paints from art/craft stores? Aren’t they cheaper?
Sure you can! Acrylic craft paints such as Folk Art and Apple Barrel ($3 for 59 ml) ARE cheaper. Citadel/Vallejo game colour bottles also contain less paint ($6 SGD for 12-17 ml). But I started with a Citadel starter kit and I’ve used Folk Art for bigger projects, and I find paints developed for miniatures really are finer, and better for painting miniatures!

But I’ve never painted, and it’s so expensive! What if it doesn’t turn out the way I want?
I wasn’t sure either, but as I went more into learning how to paint, I discovered that painting is REALLY therapeutic. Get a good light source, good chair (so you avoid hunching), paints brushes, palette and miniatures and you are ready to go! The best part? It’s your mini! You decide the colour scheme and if you don’t like how it turns out, you can strip it of its paint job and try again!

What colour code were we using for the dungeon party again?

Ok..but, but!
Enough buts! Something that also really helped me get into it was the enthusiasm, encouragement and support from my friends and family. LC taught me to paint (I tried briefly and it was horrible, then he taught me about layers), my husband gave me a whole bunch of miniatures from Descent to paint without any pressure (I could paint whatever I wanted – yay!), and of course, saving enough money to buy miniatures I really wanted? That’s da bomb!

What’s there left to say, except GO AND TRY IT OUT (: