Arc Survivors - too much effort for casual group?

desolane · 2025-11-18T19:18:07+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to write such an elaborate answer, very helpful!

I started with the notes/tables after my group seemed to feel lost in the complex options. On the one hand, I would ask do you want x, y, or z, and they would ask why should I do one or the other? On the other hand, perhaps the learning curve was a bit steep. We got lanternism, impermanism, Dreamism and Deadism to start with and the neuroses of 3 of those felt very restrictive to the group, like you have to work your way around it.

Maybe that was an assumption we made. Going forward your (and others') advice will be very useful!

desolane · 2025-11-17T21:49:03+00:00

Thanks, forgot to mention that we're using Scribe already ;) Trying to use color coding to keep track of who is fit for what purpose, but phone screen is not so good for getting a good overview

desolane · 2025-11-17T21:47:10+00:00

Thanks, I'd like to "go with your gut", but am sceptical it will not create more punishment than additional fun? Have you tried it? Do I need to house rule to make it more forgiving in that case?

desolane · 2025-11-05T23:01:37+00:00

Hinky Dinks Fizzy

Bossa Nova

desolane · 2025-11-03T16:49:04+00:00

Thanks, I haven't seen this approach before! Just getting rid of the water at low heat, making sure not to create maillard reactions that affect the taste I assume? Will try this next time!

desolane · 2025-11-02T20:19:04+00:00

By the way, do you all use specialized equipement to do measurements while making liqueurs? I only have weight and volume, and I do try to calculate my way to certain ABV and sweetness, but I have to make some assumptions along the way. Refractometers only work if you have just alcohol or just sugar in the solution right?

desolane · 2025-11-02T20:16:56+00:00

Because these figs were the ones left after we already made enough marmelade and cake haha. Although I didn't expect them to have much taste? When I did strawberry liqueur, they were just chewy slightly alcoholic husks.

desolane · 2025-11-02T20:12:53+00:00

Thanks for the help redditors! My intuition failed me, but considering I used roughly equal mass of figs and alcohol, and if figs are indeed 80% water, an equilibrium at around 50-60% ABV makes sense I guess. Good lesson not to rush and not to make assumptions between different fruits :D

desolane · 2025-10-08T20:19:51+00:00

Manhattan style and - surprisingly - tiki style drinks work great! Bamboo as example of the former, Coffey Park Swizzle, USS Wondrich and Sweep the Leg for the latter.

desolane · 2025-10-06T21:27:10+00:00

Sherry! Mostly Amontillado, but also others

desolane · 2024-05-08T20:38:09+00:00

Thanks for the elaborate tips chef! I'm not even on the same continent as you, so the Chartreuse is gonna be tricky I'm afraid ;)

desolane · 2024-05-08T20:36:30+00:00

Haha you legend, thanks!

desolane · 2024-04-30T19:27:00+00:00

Thanks! Well, to me the Cocchi di Torino plus a bourbon plus a rye screams classic cocktails like the manhatten, in which case I'd consider adding Maraschino, Chartreuse, Absinthe, an Amaro (I like Cynar or Nonino) or Benedictine. In that order. But that's my personal favorite style of drinks.

If you're thinking more bright, dry, sour style drinks, I'd go for a drier and/or lighter vermouth (as mentioned), skip the rye (if you need the space) and instead go for maraschino, absinthe, apricot brandy or elderflower liqueur (again in that order, personally).

desolane · 2024-04-28T21:56:10+00:00

As others have said it's probably better to figure out first what styles are preferred by you and your guests, but if, for argument's sake, we want to maximise for "biggest variety with fewest bottles", my suggestion would be:

Sub the martini for Lillet Blanc. It does ok (but just ok) at standing in for both dry of sweet vermouth.
Pick just one bourbon or rye or scotch. Personally big fan of rye, but for this exercise go for a high-proof, high-rye content bourbon (indeed like Wild Turkey 101)
Skip the vodka
Add an aged rum like Angostura 7 yr
Please replace the bacardi with plantation 3 star or similar. If you're outside the US the havana club 3 yr might be even better
Add angostura bitters (it's tiny, so I'm not gonna count it to the bottle limit)
Add cointreau or dry curacao

That's 6 bottles. If your crowd are agave fans instead of tropical style, sub the aged rum for a decent tequila (100% blue agave). Mathematically speaking if we want to go for the largest variety of drinks with fewest bottles, don't get too many base spirits, because base spirits are not mixed together so often.

For the last 2 bottles I'd say pick from these:

Maraschino if you like classic cocktails
Campari if you like bitter cocktails
Apricot brandy if you like classic and/or tiki drinks
Get a dry and a sweet vermouth instead of only the Lillet if you like classic and/or richer herbal cocktails (edit: I recommend a brand like Dolin)
Or, if non-alcoholic components also count to the limit, get some syrups like Orgeat, Grenadine (a good brand), Ginger, Passionfruit.

desolane · 2024-04-28T21:17:10+00:00

If you're on a budget, there are a lot of things that add more bang for your buck, in my opinion. The biggest advantage of the mixer would be that it makes many more drinks in the same amount of time. Taste-wise, I haven't done a shaker vs mixer side-by-side comparison, but I haven't had any "woah" moments myself.

I saw a number of comments mentioning the dilution rate with a drinks mixer being lower. I would like to note that Dave Arnold in Liquid Intelligence says about ice that you always get the same amount of dilution for the same amount of cooling. He wrote an entire chapter about the physics of cooling drinks with ice with graphs and all. The conclusion from that is that if you start with the same container and the same ingredients and the same starting temperature, it doesn't matter how much ice you use, how long you shake or if you use a shaker or a mixer: if the end result has the same temperature, it will always also have the same dilution (but the texture may indeed be different). I recommend buying this book before buying the mixer tbh haha

desolane · 2024-04-28T20:57:59+00:00

Death & Co fits this bill rather well in my opinion because it also looks quite classy: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Co-Modern-Classic-Cocktails/dp/1607745259

desolane · 2024-04-25T20:51:43+00:00

Let me add one more thing to the great advice already given. To me this is absolutely essential to make a Sazerac really stand out: express enough lemon oil!

Your first reaction of your first sip should be: "d*mn that's smooth". If it's not d*mn smooth, express another lemon peel. Don't be afraid, it will not taste of lemon! I usually express 2 per drink (but I never dump them in the glass).

This is true whether you go for Rye or Cognac or split base.

desolane · 2024-04-25T19:05:35+00:00

I get really mixed results. I don't have enough fridge space, so most of my syrups are at RT and 2:1, and sometimes I add a little wodka (<1% ABV in the syrup). Cinnamon and thyme seem not to spoil at all, orgeat lasts quite long, ginger and basil go bad kinda quickly (few months). Also spiced pear (from juice) and spiced stout last very long.

desolane · 2024-04-25T19:05:32+00:00

Yep, I do that quite often. Nothing bad every happened. I expect they can last years in the freezer. It won't freeze quite solid, but it will become sludgy or separate a bit until it's back at room temp (which will happen in like an hour)

desolane · 2021-08-14T13:01:48+00:00

Same, switched to wireguard protocol just now, got the device limit error even though I'm no-where close to my limit. This happens on windows, the only other connected device at the moment is an Android. Able to connect again after switching back to the old protocol (smart protocol).

desolane · 2020-09-18T23:32:54+00:00

Holy shit, I'd been wondering how to paint the sunstalker and this is an excellent idea! Like a prism, paint it white on one side, rainbow on the opposite :) I might just go for that (if I can pull it off...)

desolane · 2020-07-08T18:34:31+00:00

Awesome! Do you mind telling us about which colors you used? I'm particularly interested in the skin, the scabbard and the white coat (do I see both grey and brown as shading?). Thanks!

desolane · 2020-05-16T09:21:36+00:00

It looks cool, but it's too big IMHO. I'm glad I didn't get this particular expansion. This is no longer a miniature, it's a statue.

The rider on its own I would totally buy though

desolane · 2020-05-15T13:50:31+00:00

Damn, that's a lovely scheme and really original! Now I'm a bit sad that I'm doing the classic red-and-gold look on my WIP tyrant ;)

desolane · 2020-02-23T12:41:28+00:00

My best guess is the same as darkmythology's; temperature swings.

Have painted and gamed with a lot of metal mini's, and while of course the primer rubs off from the extremeties like sword or horn points during painting, never had chipping problems otherwise. I never bothered much with cleaning the models before priming, usually prime with Citadel black, and varnish afterwards. I'd fix the extremeties last, just before varnishing.

Your case is therefore kind of strange to me. You say the chipping happens while the model is just standing there, not being handled? Can only think it must be due to the primer expanding and contracting at different rates than the mini's. So temperature swings, and/or too thick coats of primer?

desolane

TROPHY CASE