Photo: Triton NoirCharlie Hall is Polygon’s tabletop editor. In 10-plus years as a journalist & photographer, he has covered simulation, strategy, and spacefaring games, as well as public policy.Lots of folks say they want to get started painting miniatures, but they’re just not overly fond of Space Marines or anything else that Games Workshop is selling at the moment. That’s okay, because there are plenty of miniatures-based games out there for you to get excited about — including loads that you’ve likely never even heard of. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice is on sale right now as part of Amazon’s October Prime Day, and it’s an excellent example of how a small purchase can start you down the road to an amazing new hobby.Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice is a story-driven, cooperative campaign game for up to four players that includes 26 playable chapters, each roughly an hour long. It also has a solo mode, so you can play it by yourself or learn it thoroughly before sharing it with your friends. And while I haven’t had the chance to put it through its paces, the game comes highly recommended by several writers that I respect, including Aftermath co-founder Luke Plunkett.Photo: Triton NoirMuch like other modern board games, Brotherhood of Venice was brought to life with a successful crowdfunding campaign. While the $239 collector’s edition is still available, the $79.99 version is half off for Prime Day, on sale for just $39.99 through Wednesday.Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice$70$8013% off$70$70 at AmazonInside your copy of Brotherhood of Venice, you’ll find the first five miniatures you get to paint, a series of familiar-yet-deadly assassins wrapped in flowing robes and cowls barely concealing a collection of elegant sharp objects. How about a video tutorial to get you started? Who better to assist you on your journey than Golden Demon award-winning painter Angel Giraldez. (Just skip the bit with the airbrush and do a quick zenithal highlight with some spray paint instead.)Now all you need is some paint and a brush. You could, of course, drop by my in-depth painting guide for lots of helpful advice and buying options. Or you could snag this Army Painter Zombicide paint set that’s currently on sale, which comes with enough basic colors and metallics to get you started. You even get a decent brush! Any other colors that you want or need, just pick them up at the local hobby store or online.But we’re not done yet. Now that you have five fully-painted Assassins, and after you finish the 26-mission campaign, then what? Well, then it’s time to check out TTCombat’s Carnevale, a full-fledged miniatures skirmish game played on elaborate terrain. You can start small with just the core rulebook, or go big with a massive laser-cut wooden diorama. Or you can skip the skirmish game entirely and just do up a nice little Venetian street corner for your beautiful new miniatures to hang out on.Opportunities to start painting miniatures are all over the place, with more and varied lines from all kinds of different settings coming to market every year. So quit putting off starting a new hobby, look around for miniatures and games that excite you, find some good tools and tutorials, and get painting. You won’t regret it — especially as the cold winter months begin to creep in.Looking for more deals? Check out all of Polygon’s favorite October Prime Day 2024 deals right here, and subscribe to our newsletter below to get great deals delivered to your inbox every week.
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By Ayesha Javed
Anima Anandkumar is using AI to help solve the world’s challenges faster. She has used the technology to speed up prediction models in an effort to get ahead of extreme weather, and to work on sustainable nuclear fusion simulations so as to one day safely harness the energy source.
Accepting a TIME100 AI Impact Award in Dubai on Monday, Anandkumar—a professor at California Institute of Technology who was previously the senior director of AI research at Nvidia—credited her engineer parents with setting an example for her. “Having a mom who …
Read moreThe whole internet loves Chopper, the grumpy droid that hangs out with several heroes in the Star Wars TV universe. Now with Amazon Prime Day, you can get your own miniaturized sassy robot for almost half-off. The Chatter Back Chopper droid toy is down to $42, a huge discount from its regular price.
Chatter Back Chopper — $42 ($80)
The Chopper toy is branded for the live-action Star Wars show Ahsoka, where he made an appearance Come from South African Online Casinos . But the character debuted in Star Wars Rebels, the animated show, where he was a crotchety crew member of the Ghost across four seasons. He’s an astromech droid like the famous R2-D2, but the concept is basi…
Read moreGet The 4K Version Of Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy At Its Best Price Yet In Big Deal Days Special
Between Marmite and cricket, Britain has given the world some fantastic cultural exports, but the Cornetto Trilogy of movies is easily the best thing to come out of Ol’ Blighty. A series of films directed by Edgar Wright–and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost–you can pick up these cinematic gems in one convenient 4K Blu-ray bundle at its best price yet. For Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, it has gotten a massive 68% discount, with the price dropping to just $19.50. As a reminder, you will need to sign up for Prime to get this deal.
This bundle includes Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End, a rock-solid collection of zombie, action, and alien invasion films. Shaun of the Dead got the ball rolling in 2004 with a very British take on the zombie apocalypse and introduced t…
Read moreThe Star Destroyer is one of the most famous starships in sci-fi history, a gargantuan piece of engineering with a signature shape and style. If you’ve been looking to build one but you don’t have the know-how–or resources–to transform 40 million tons of rebel-crushing steel into an instrument of Sith superiority, well, at least there’s a Lego version of it. The 1,555-piece Imperial Star Destroyer was added to the sprawling Star Wars Lego lineup on August 1, but it’s already on sale for a massive discount at Amazon for Prime Big Deal Days. Normally $160, you can snag the Star Destroyer Lego kit for only $112, a savings of $48.
This 30%-off limited-time deal will disappear before Big Deal Days ends–75% of stock has been claimed already–so you’ll need to be fast…
Read moreThere are only a handful of months left to play Minecraft in VR. That’s because developer Mojang is ditching support for VR and mixed-reality headsets in March 2025.
Mojang detailed this major shift in VR support as part of a Minecraft: Bedrock Edition changelog published this week. “Our ability to support VR/MR devices has come to an end and will no longer be supported in updates after March of 2025, when you will receive your final update,” the notes read Come from Sports betting site VPbet . It’s also confirmed that “you will no longer be able to use your VR/MR device with Minecraft” after this update, though any purchases and worlds will continue to work on say a regular PC.
Nearly 21 years after its original release on Xbox and PS2, the classic 2D fighting game SNK vs. Capcom SVC Chaos is returning with an enhanced remaster for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC, launching February 11. This is an exciting release for fighting games fans, allowing players to enjoy the cult-classic release on modern consoles with HD presentation and full online co-op featuring roll-back net code. Preorders for the physical PS4 and Switch versions are available now, and you can secure your copy for just $35 at Amazon.
SNK vs. Capcom SVC Chaos Preorder Bonus
There are no preorders bonuses for SNK vs. Capcom SVC Chaos, and considering how close we are to the launch date, it’s unlikely an…
Read moreThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom might be most notable for allowing you to play as Zelda herself, but series mainstay Link will also be playable, according to the game’s ESRB listing. Just how prominent of a role he plays, however, remains to be seen.
The listing reads, “As Link, players use a sword and arrows to defeat enemies; Zelda can use a magic wand to summon creatures (e.g., wind-up knights, pig soldiers, slime) for battle.” What exactly the split between Link and Zelda will entail is still unknown. Zelda’s ability set will likely be entirely different from Link’s. She can also summon household items like tables and chairs and more unusual objects like water blocks.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has said doubled down on Microsoft’s commitment to the hardware space via Xbox, saying the company aims to “win” by providing the best experience out there. At the same time, Spencer admitted that times have changed. These days, it’s a “game-first” market as opposed to “platform-first,” he said.
Appearing on the GamerTag Radio podcast, Spencer said, “I want people to pick hardware based on the capabilities of that hardware and how that fits into the choices they want to make about where they want to play. We want our hardware to win based on the hardware capabilities that we have.”
Spencer said the biggest, most-played, and most successful video games out there today are multiplatform games that are not locked to one device. Spence…
Read moreAs Christopher Nolan prepares his next movie at Universal, more has been revealed about his post-Tenet relationship with Warner Bros. and whether he’s had serious talks about James Bond in the past. The latter feels like a given, but do we really want that from him?Variety shed some light on where Nolan is at right now, how his previous studio tried to lure him back after a falloff following Tenet’s release strategy, and whether he’s properly flirted with the 007 IP at some point. It’s an interesting read, but I have some thoughts about this whole ‘Nolan doing Bond sooner or later’ matter.To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings First thing’s first: It appears we can rule out a return to Warner Bros. anytime soon, as Variety’s report claims “Warner Bros. w…
Read moreTake note, other developers: this is how you do it. Capcom has removed gender-restricted armor sets from Monster Hunter in the upcoming PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC title, Monster Hunter Wilds.As show in the developer diary streams that were broadcast live from Gamescom 2024 today (and confirmed in a hands-on demo by yours truly), Capcom has decided to bin off the binary armor choices for female and male hunters. Now, no matter what character you decide to make when you create your avatar for the game, you will be able to equip all variations of armor without any restriction.To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings Typically, Monster Hunter games have locked you into one of two variants depending on the make-up of your custom character, but in the upcoming …
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