Summer Doldrums

 Welcome back sports fans,

So here we are in the scorching month of July...and I do mean scorching...today its supposed to hit 100. Yay for AC. So besides the heat, what has been going on in my world of gaming? Well honestly, not too much...but not nothing.

First off, I'm still working on my Sisters. I primed all of the combat patrol (original, not the new one) models so that I can start painting them. I also primed the rhino that I have and even started on that model.

I had to look at a few different models to figure out how I wanted the paint scheme to go. For the most part, it is going to be a big shiny metal model.

I'll be picking out bits and such to highlight, but up next is the primary shading which will darken the tank considerably, and then go back and add highlights. I'm using the Fanatic paints by Army Painter and they are pretty fantastic. No concerns at all so far.

Moving away from GW stuff, I got in a game of Lords of Waterdeep when a college buddy of mine visited. I finally won too even though my wife played...she always wins for some reason. One of my favorite board games of all time. Wife loves it because there are eight turns and then you are done. None of this "forever" nonsense that lots of games can fall into.

Also on the board game front, I just got my copy of Avalon Hill's Talisman, 5th edition. Now I'm pretty dumb for buying this as I pretty much already own several versions of Talisman. And honestly, I don't actually recall buying it...I remember looking at it on Amazon...but not actually deciding to buy it....but oh well, it's here now. I've popped the hood and the components seem decent. It is Avalon Hill this time making the game, so maybe that is why I bought it??

On the video game front, I have been playing Dark and Darker. Now at first when I saw this game being played by friends, I thought, that looks cool. But then I found out it was a PvPvE game...which means other players can gank you...and my interest took a nosedive. No way I was going to struggle in a game vs AI and then have some better player kill me and take my stuff. Well it went free on Steam...so I tried it...and then after realizing if you expect to die and not worry about taking in good gear...you can just have fun and even laugh at your deaths. So I've been actually enjoying it...level up!

So while not the craziest time of gaming in my life, a decent spread of stuff across the board. Can't really complain. Whelp...until next time...

Wait, I never posted up finished pics....

 Ugh. So like the worst thing in the world is looking through your old posts and noticing the dates on them. Apparently nearly two years ago, I started showing off some progress I was doing on a knight helverin....and I got all the way up to building and priming the guy. Well damn, I actually finished it...like almost two years ago...but apparently forgot about the blog and never posted up the finished pictures.

So without further ado....

Granted, the base is not finished on the guy...probably still not finished if I know me...but...its almost ready to be finished....seriously...

I did have one snaffu...the magnet inside the shell came off and is now rattling around in there...so sometimes I can get the gun to stick in place. :)

Clearly, shots with the blue knight that I didn't paint. I really like the yellow color. I think it pops well and stands out.

So there you have it...I actually did mostly finish a knight. Heh..okay, just noticed that the last three images were all pre-shading and base pumice...but still...

Until next time...

Inspired

 Hello Sports Fans,

Today we bring you an unusual update. This one comes on the heels of painting models. Crazy I know, but it could just be true. I recently was invited to a hobby night. I know a few people that like to gather every once in a while and just put together or paint models for the evening. No game playing, no dice rolled, just communal hobbying. I find them to typically be very fun and encouraging. Nothing like peer pressure to put glue to plastic, or paint to brush.

That particular night, I did not put paint to brush, but instead went with the glue to plastic option. I built myself the dreaded EightyEight anti-aircraft gun used by the Wehrmacht during WWII. Warlord has decided to team up with Italieri for certain plastic models. These are fairly detailed models with lots of little bits and the barest of instructions. This 35ish part model took me most of the evening to build as it was quite difficult at times. There were some positives to the kit as well, like molded fittings for certain parts. Some of it would almost be considered snap to fit even. I did finally get the gun built and will be looking for an appropriate base to put it on. The scale did seem a tad bit off though for typical Bold Action. Will have to see how it looks on the table in the future. Now this kit had four (double sided) pages for instructions. I then reached over to start work on the Panzer III model from Italieri...which was 70ish parts with a single double sided instruction page. At that point I was neither drinking, nor could afford to, so the kit went back into the box.

By this time you are probably wondering...didn't he talk about painting models? Well yes, I did. But in the course of that evening, it were the other participants that were doing actual painting. Most were young lads I had not met before. They were quite excited to be working on their 40K models. I gave out a little advice here and there as I'm a somewhat experienced painter. But all in all, it was simply great to see people really excited about the hobby as a whole, and going guns blazing to get paint on models.

That was the inspiring part. The following weekend, my family spent it at the beach for my daughter's birthday. Knowing how low key we keep things, I brought three sisters of battle models that had been primed. These are part of a larger army that I bought in the hopes I could convince my wife to play. We had talked about a color scheme long ago but at this point, the best we had gotten was priming a few.

I had purchased the new warpaints set (the middle tier one) and decided to try them out. I grabbed a handful of colors I thought would be useful and brought them along, including my Valejo spepia wash. Over the course of the weekend, I put paint to brush and got all three of them about 98% done. I'm sure there are some fine details I will need to go back and add or clean up, as well as finish basing. The faces are going to be a bear as they are very detailed and my old eyes don't see so well anymore. But alas, I will give it a try. 

Here they are in their current splendor....

First up, the battle sister. She was my first test model for the color scheme. I was going with the Order of the Golden Light....a small order that apparently all have been Martyred and thus they come back to life when needed. Neat. Clearly my photo skills need work, but this gives you an idea at least. I did record each color I used. These typically have a black outter color for the cloak and a white inner color. However, seeing how I like washes, I went with a dark grey outter color and a light tan inner color...to make them more neutral and less bright, plus it is easier to shade grey than black. I think it plays off the gold armor quite well.

Next up is the Canoness. Now this model was quite hard because she had so much cloak and not much else.There also wasn't any great place to add a touch of red to (I did go with red prayer beads). She will probably need a bunch of detail work added to make her really pop on the battlefield.

Finally, is the Sister Superior. I think she came out quite well. My paint style lends itself to looking better in hand than on the tabletop...and the neutral scheme might just all blend together when seen from a distance...but I don't mind that. I like painting more realistic than stylistic. She will benefit a bit from more detailing as well. But that might wait until the majority of the army is done. I found a good consistent theme to go with and I know the order of how I am painting them. So the trick will be to continue and get the combat patrol done and then look to expand the army further. The basing needs more work too, but the pumice I added and little drybrushing is decent enough for now. 

Well there you have it. Three newly painted models...stuff I'm actually very happy with. Now just gotta prime some more and keep on painting.

Until next time....

It is....ALIVE!

 Well as the title has hinted at, I have created something. Not sure if I had posted this or not, but some time ago I got a 3D resin printer, the mighty Elegoo Jupiter. This beast sat in my garage for quite a while waiting to be used. However, life and associated nonsense prevented that from happening. Now the printer has found its way into my basement. I finally made some attempts at printing and they failed horribly. I was supposed to be printing this rook piece that Elegoo has on the memory stick....but all I ever got were round disks.

Well I made the decision to sell the printer for a variety of reasons. However, I didn't want to sell it and not have it actually product anything. I'd want the next owner to have success with it. So I scoured the internet, asked questions, listened to the answers, and voila! I have succeeded!

In figuring out how to get the rook to print, I tested with a few other files as well.

And after those successes, I decided to print some warmaster files I had. Great thing about warmaster is that those models don't take long to print at all.

I've got two units of blunderbuss chaos dwarfs ready to go. And they look really good. So at this point, why sell the printer now that I finally have it dialed in. Well, mostly because it is a beast. Honestly...its huge and takes up a lot of space. Also, I'm a bit worried that I'll forget how to get it working again if I have to take a printing break for a significant time...which I fully expect to happen. Also, I already ordered a newer, full featured printer that will handle probably 95% of what I need to print as well. Honestly, I might have jumped the gun on getting the newer, shinier printer as the Jupiter is now doing exactly what I wanted it to do. But it doesn't make sense to have two printers for the amount of printing I intend. Hopefully I can find it a good home.

However, now that I have it working, I might actually try to go for some of those larger print models I've bought STLs for and see how it does. No one has bit on buying it anyways.

Nine Long Years

 It has been nine years since I played warhammer fantasy battle, or as kids are learning about it today, The Old World. Nine years of not playing my favorite game and watching the community splinter in different directions and my models collect dust. I never got into Age of Sigmar. It didn't grab me out of the gate and though there are some really cool models from it, it never drew me into playing. 

So now I sit here waiting for my Warhammer: The Old World (WtOW) pronounced wah-tow! lol.... stuff to arrive, I find myself in a very odd state. I'm anxious, almost giddy. I've started digging through my collections, trying to verify what I have and what I don't have. Was I dumb enough to sell or trade stuff off? What did I purchase in the last nine years to fill those collections even though the models would never get used? 

I've started hearing from people I haven't seen in nearly a decade as they too are excited about returning to fantasy battle. I is almost as if the clock has turned back. How odd that a game has come back due to the company, and only now am I considering playing it, while all along the older editions were always there. Not sure how to explain that.

The point is, Warhammer Fantasy is back, and it has me thinking about it all the time. I've gotten the books and so far I really like what I see in the rules. Cleaned up some things, flatted out others. I see a game where what you do is more important than perhaps what you bring. And that is a good thing. Well, that will last until people figure out the meta or how to break it.

I've also look at the various armies, but official and legacy. It did hurt quite a bit for my favorite Vampire Counts to be tossed in the Legacy pile. Such a great army and now what is left of it will wallow in a single, unsupported pdf. But if I can wait 9 years for GW to reverse course on Fantasy, then perhaps later down the line they will reinstate Legacy armies as well.

Right now, I would like to decide on an army to move forward with initially. Work on one army, get it to table ready status, and just enjoy playing again. The hard part will be figuring out which one to go with as I have several. This is not a new problem for me, and yet the answer is always hard to find. 

Until that time, I can do a few things. I've started to print unit converters so that I won't have to rebase all of my models. I'm also going to inventory my current collection to see what I have and what I don't need. Could be a good time to trim down some of my collection so its easier to use.

I might even make more posts once I pick an army and start working on it. Stranger things have happened. Honestly, this is the first time in a long time where I'm excited about my hobby again. 

Until next time, hopefully before 2025. 

Update: my first printed tray

In the wake of Leviathan

 Hello Gentle Readers,

Today we are diving into Leviathan, GW's latest box set and the herald for 10th edition warhammer 40,000. If you are somehow finding this post, that means you have pretty much scoured the rest of the web for various reviews and such on the box set. That means you already know about the distribution practices of Games Workshop and how crappy they treat their partners, ie third party retailers. Not much more to say on that. GW seems to have its head firmly up its ass with these policies and I wish that the stores could all boycott their product and teach them a lesson. But too many rely on GW sales to keep them afloat. Ugh.

Anyways, lets talk about the set itself. Okay, not about the box, but the box set, ie its contents. You have to be careful because some people (ie me) are very literal. (I feel like I used "ie" too close together there...)

The models are good. The detail is pretty amazing and they "push to fit" has been superb. Now, I will say, one of my terminators came broken. The stem in the back was broken so I had to glue it to the front plate. Not major, but GW should be careful about those things in the future. Other than that, and the fact that you will have to paint some of these guys as you are putting them together, one of the best sets of models I've seen out of GW. 

I got the 9th ed box set from them and those models were good, but these are better. I did have a couple of issues with damaged pieces where a stem was loose and broke off. Thankfully a little bit of glue saved the day, and it was on a model I wouldn't need to paint in pieces. All in all, a great job by GW.

The book is massive. I wish I had other words to really describe it, but I think it would be unflattering. There is no reason to have a rulebook that big. I'm sorry. Split the rules and the background into two books. I'd much rather have a smaller hardback book with just the rules for the various types of play, and then another book for all the fluff. Not sure why they are keeping it all with one. It is a lovely tome and will most likely find a place on my shelf and stay there. 

It also comes with cards for the Leviathan campaign. These are quite nice and come with a card holder. Perfect. Seriously, these are fantastic. How do you make great minis, fantastic cards...but then completely crap out the book? No idea. I'm sure these will be highly sought after. I've just flipped through mine, but can't see any reason not to use them for all my games ahead for the time being.

A little bit of an oddity here, but there are no dice in the box. Really? A two player box set to get people into warhammer 40,000 and you don't include any dice? You had room for them. They can't be that much. Does it ruin anything? No...but does come off a little cheap. Downgrade that tome to something useable and give me some dice. I'd rather that combo.

If you are planning on sticking with 40K, and you like the new models, then this set is for you. There is no denying that this is a pretty good bargain for the amount of minis that you get. I mean hell, most other box sets they came out with around this price point had about half of the figures in them. Sure, they are push to fit and mono-pose, but when they look this good, it doesn't matter.

I know I didn't post up any pics, because you should have already seen the contents about a hundred times already. I am looking forward to getting in some games and then will snap some pics of grey figures running around grey terrain. :) Until next time...

More Like A Long Hiatus

  Word play, gotta love it. So yeah, its been a while. Sorry about that. Not that anyone has been missing this, but you know, I have. I didn't quite make it a year between posts, but it has been a long while. Glad to see I am sticking with the same pattern of first talking about my absence before talking about gaming. Its like riding a bike apparently.

I could go into a litany of excuses and reasons for it, but it all falls into the "life" category. Lets leave it at that and move on. No...really.

Well so the big news that everyone in gaming is talking about is the imminent release of Leviathan for 40K. I'm actually pretty irritated at this to be honest. I had made the very brave and mature decision that 9th was going to be my very last edition of 40K. I'm sure I'd play 10th, but no more investing in the books and such. Unfortunately, 9th was a bit of a disaster, but it took me a while to figure that out. It was so complicated just to play one army. I have many....and when you have a hard time just deciding on what to play....then throw in having to figure out how to play each one...well my models did not hit the table very often. 

Now we have the new "simplified but not simpler" 10th edition. And it looks appealing. I won't lie. And the fact that they are releasing datacards and points (apparently) for all existing units...well that is unprecedented by GW....last time they did something like that it was for Warhammer Fantasy Battle and it was the Ravening Hordes booklet. (yes, I had to google it because my old brain couldn't remember)

I've got some mixed feelings though. I'm not sure about how I like the direction they went with certain armies, and I definitely don't like how uber powerful the special characters are. When one guy can wipe out a whole squad of marine in a turn....who isn't going to field that? But I digress. I'm not a competitive player anymore (never really was actually) and when I do play, I'm sure my opponent and I will keep it casual and fun. So if 10th's new ease of play can help make that happen more often, then good on it. I'll take any reason actually to take my models off the shelf once in a while.

I did preorder Leviathan. The models looked great and there were loads of them. Will I get anything beyond the starter? No idea. No plan to at this point. I've got rules for all my models already (or soon will have) and the rules to play. Not sure how GW is planning on squeezing its player base for 10th just yet, but I have the feeling its going to continue on with its "season" strategy. But that only really matters for the tournament types. 

For me, I'll be happy if this edition is simple enough for me to convince my wife to play. If I can understand it, then she'll have no issue at all. :)

Okay, that's enough rambling for now. Normally I dive into the variety of games that I've been poking and prodding for the last few months, but I'll save that for another post. If we are really lucky, maybe I'll even have some pics of 3D prints that I'm attempting.

So until the next time I feel guilty enough to make a post....