What people have to go through in the modern age

I'm going to add this link

http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=932

Please check it out, and support this guy if you can. I've only had to fly into the states once, and the guy behind the desk was itching to find a problem. These border guards seem to have needed to scratch.

O.M.G

Today (granted I may be behind many others) I found out something absolutly incredible.

A four letter word.

The first movie to be largely CGI based.

It's back

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2755789337/

Meanie Greenies

Ok, so Farmer_G, this is how you paint your dudes...

1) Paint it black, as per the previous post.

2) Paint it green - Orkhide shade foundation paint on all the green bits.

3) More green - Dark Angel green, liberally 'wet brushed' over all the raised parts.

For anyone watching, I call this technique wet brushing:

Take a tatty brush (oddly, cheap plastic fibre brushes for kids work best) dip very lightly into paint, and then wipe a little bit off onto your mixing pallet/ CD - see it more as evenly distributing the paint over the bristles, rather that actually removing much paint.
Then vigerously run the brush over the raised parts of your mini. Back in the day when I wanted to churn out my Dark Angels as quickly as possible, I did this straight over black. The benefit was speed and vague differentiation of raised vs deep parts. The downside (I see now) is that they're not really fit for public viewing!

Get yer paint on!

Today I managed to get some paint on! Ok, for the majority of the toy soldier world of ours, this isn't exactly something to get worked up about.

For myself however, for various reasons, I haven't been able to change the 'Mostly been painting' box on the left for... Well, since I started this blogging shindig.

Today however, for 20 minutes between eating and *ahem* working, I was in heaven, undercoating (yes, even undercoating is joyworthy) some dark angel dudes. The feel of fresh plastic, the couple of minutes of shaking the Chaos Black, the dip and ooooh the feel of getting some paint into the deepest crevices...




It felt so good.





You have no idea.


Guess I'd better show you a pic of what I've got here:

Thats a freebe blotter on my desk at work. And this is where they live when its not my lunch break:

I got the idea from another blog, I can't remember which - sorry! And it finally became feasable when I got my own office - having moved from a group office where people get inquisitive.

So a couple of days a week, I'll be able to slowly paint up some vets / second comand squad, and the dozen or so grunts I need to finish off the immediate plans for the green wing section of the army.

Hopefully more to follow, if nothing else I want to keep this a record of the paint scheme I worked out several months ago!

Everybody has them... Part 2

Unfortunatly sometimes its hard to notice those things in your life that are just...

Well, Awesome!

Read through just the first page and at least half of the Awesome things will make you think Oh yeah! That is awesome!

From the first page today, my Awesomes are:

#635 When the hiccups stop
I get really bad hiccups that drive me up the wall...
#637 Rocking out on air instruments
I probably do it more than most!
#638 When the amount of toilet paper left on the roll is the exact amount you need
We've all been there...
#639 Carrying all the groceries in from the car in one big trip
Such a sense of achievement!
#643 The sound of steaks hitting a hot grill
And the knowledge you're only a few minutes away from chow...

Everybody has them

Just found this profound PostSecret and wish I'd found it before.

Everybody has secrets, everybody holds them inside themselves, whether its something they've done, something they haven't done, or something they feel that can't be shared.

I hope for all those people who send in those postcards that writing and sending them released a little of that internal pressure.

Temp

A quick explanation in case you're reading this. I just need a temporary hosting site for some tests on a webshop we're building. So please move along, the posts above and below are much more interesting!

Bobbing Corks

Aah, the wonders of modern technology. I'm sitting in the departure lounge of Cork airport in Ireland, blogging. It's a nice enough airport, lots of wood, plenty of (slightly uncomfortable) seats, and *woot* free wi-fi for the budding business traveller.

As a cork rises in the waves it also falls...

There's a problem with Cork airport that I'm discovering. Well, two actually.

It's on a hill, in the middle of relatively low grounds, and not too far from the coast... And I can't see more than 50 feet out the windows. It's foggy, real pea souper. And apparently this happens alot! Who's idea was it to build an international airport (brand new, many millions of Euro) in a place that regularly gets fog?! Bah!

Second problem, is that nowhere does it say that my flight has been delayed. We should have taken off 10 minutes ago. It's been flashing in big green letters Go to your gate. Wohoo! We're now boarding as I write.

Addendum: I was in the process of pointing out that nowhere on any of the screens did it say that any flights were delayed, only an announcer every 15 minutes for specific flights (not mine), and a bit observation of the actual departure times Vs scheduled departure times on past flights to see they were delayed by 10 minutes to over an hour. Luckily my flight took off within half an hour... Still quite annoying, as I'm going to be flying through there a few times in the next couple of months.

Apron Militia

Quick fun find, found through the 'blogs of note' doodaa...

I may not share her chromasomes, or some of her counter activities, but I do own a Dyson with HEPA filter, and IT KICKS ASS! HELL YEAH!

http://erin-obrien.blogspot.com/2006/03/housewife.html

Try to ignore the comments though, making me embarressed for the single mindedness of my half of the gene pool.

Pearls from the dredged interweb

I was knocking around, as I often am, when I re-found the link to an excellent 'water' article focused on the Grey Knights. While a little old (2007) it is a brilliant bit of theory, and quite applicable in any edition, and any game.

The way of the water warrior., Reactive warfare as applied to the Grey Knights.

This works for Grey Knights, Deathwing, and any other high model impact, low model count mobile army. New Space Wolves and some Eldar builds come to mind.





'Competative' VS 'Fun' is a fashionable topic at the moment - what use to be called 'beardy' army design, and WAAC players, derised at a local level and on the net a few years ago, has now turned into a huge debate across blogs and forums.

My personal view is similar to some people like Stelek - going into a tournament, bring your A game - you can be a nice guy while tabling your oponent. Going into your local club, find out if you're playing a 'fun' game or an A game - you will probably know your oponents well enough to agree before hand, or internally rated that person as a 'Beer and pretzels' or WAAC player.

As far as I'm concerned, WAAC is trying to win - no cheating, no rules twisting, just bringing your filthiest, hardest army. Of course army is only half of the issue...


Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion


An offshoot of this is TFG - they may be a newb or vet who thinks he's got it and rubs it in.

If you want to win, if you want to battle your wits against another player running at 110% - make sure you table him, or indeed get your arse handed to you - with a smile on your face. Be a hard arse, be a WAAC player, but make sure you don't become TFG.

Up, up and away on my beautiful...

Went to see 'Up' last night with the girlfriend. Kind of torn. It is an excellent film, nice story, if uncomplicated, beautifully rendered by Pixar. I'm sad to say I left the cinema with a tear or two, even after the many laughs.

It reminded me a bit too much of my Grandma passing a few months ago, and of other things missing in my younger years.
I'm very happy to say that things are much better than back then. It still reminded me a bit too closely.

Heartily recommend the film, but be prepared for a few heart breakingly sad bits, for anyone.

Spore

Spore is an excellent game! So far I've just hit the space age, but this game has been...
Asteroids
FPS
RPG
RTS

Its got the huge range of customisability of Sims (same guy), but without any of that family stuff ;-D
I spose the only thing holding it back so far is the slightly dated cartoony graphics, but I'm not sure you could get away with making it any more serious.

Another Year... And food!

Last Thursday was my birthday. I was off ill from work and lounged in front of the TV. Sigh... Not the most pleasant way of spending my 'special day'. The girlfriend took us out for dinner because I was feeling a bit better.
Our favourite Chinese which is conveniently less than 10 minutes drive away, a place called The China Garden in Whitminster. They give you a small bowl of nice prawn crackers for free which is nice. And most of the food is excellent, though the noodles we had seemed a little overdone that night.
Ribs are beatifully done, the wanton soup was good she said, then we had duck. Main was beef with black pepper and red wine sauce, nice, a bit too rich though. Second main (we share) was deed fried chicken in plum sauce which was delicious.
Didn't fancy any of the desserts, this place's weak point, so we stopped off at Tesco and picked up a cheap 'happy birthday' cake. Mmmm... Sugary.

All Hail the FSM and his noodly appendage!

If you're unaware of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.... First visit the Website, then give thanks for sharing His noodly appendage with you.

NArmen...

Here comes the wolf train!

Lots of talk on the interweb about the flexibilty of the rules in the new Space Wolves codex. A few days ago I briefly saw the fun that might be had with using them for Deathwing... Then thought naaaa.
Then on the flight today I remembered my brief and light daliance with CSM in early 4th Ed. I put together a warband that me and a few buddies were using in a weekend campaign. Called it the Hunt, and I put it together using a mix of SW and CSM bitz. I think it was pre- Eye of Terror, so guess I'd thought up 13th company!

I think I'll have a play with a few small army lists...

The Hunt will ride again!

Trapped in Brussels

Last friday I got stuck in Brussels airport. Travel often enough, and it's inevitable that you'll see that frustrating flashing red next to your departure on the little screen.
For the first time, I was warned that there was a delay,
Last friday, the good men and women of Brussels airport traffic control tower had a two hour strike, 6 to 8 pm. The check in desk predicted we'd be away by 8.15 (I nodded with certainty that we wouldn't be leaving at 8.15).
We finally set out at 10.30pm. I got home 12.30 in the morning, three and a half hours late.

Granted, the details of my trip and personal inconvenience are relatively minor.
It did get me thinking though, as I sat in the pergatory of Brussels airport, what inconvenience are the air traffic controllers experiencing that they feel the need to strike?

What is their grievance to stop thousands of people from going home?

Mmm Shrimp cocktail - District 9

Girlfriend and I went to see District 9 on Saturday, and both quite enjoyed it.

It had imaginative alien weapons, a well thought out premise, and excellent acting from unknowns. After a quiet (not dull) start, the action steadily ramped up to full speed with plenty of gibs. For me, as far as effects go, the Mech unit was one of the best realised I've ever seen.

Which reminded me of...

While the zombies was a humourous subject described in a sensible study, I am reminded of a paper called:

"The integration of GIS, remote sensing, expert systems and adaptive co-kriging for environmental habitat modeling of the Highland Haggis using object-oriented, fuzzy-logic and neural-network techniques "

By Oleg McNoleg, 1995. Computers & Geosciences Volume 22, Issue 5, June 1996, Pages 585-588.

If you have access to it (still at Uni) I'd reccomend it for a good giggle!

Zombies!

While not a particular fan of the Zombie genre, I enjoy a good bout of Umbrella Corporation derived undead infection as much as the next person. So I fully appreciate this study, discussed by Big Mike!

Un-rant

Just read this and wholeheartidly agreed with it - the game evolves. Codex's get updated. Models change. In the Grim Darkness of The Future, There is Still only War.

Deathwing 1500 on foot.

Tired of building a 16 page report... So I'll take a break and stick up my 1500 foot Deathwing list!

Based off Stelek's deathwing list here, I've chopped it down to 1500pts and twisted it a little to use what I have/like.

HQ: Belial, Master of the Deathwing
Lightning Claws
5 Command Squad
Bolt Pistol (x5); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Melta Bombs (x3); Chainsword (x1); Power Weapon (x2); Meltagun (x2)
1 Apothecary

Troops: Belial's Deathwing Terminator Squad
Chain Fist (x1); Lightning Claws (pair) (x1); Cyclone Missile Launcher
1 Apothecary
1 Sergeant

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad
Chain Fist (x1); Lightning Claws (pair) (x1); Cyclone Missile Launcher
1 Sergeant

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad
Chain Fist (x1); Lightning Claws (pair) (x1); Cyclone Missile Launcher
1 Sergeant

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad
Chain Fist (x1); Lightning Claws (pair) (x1); Cyclone Missile Launcher
1 Sergeant

Elite: Venerable Dreadnought
Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Extra Armor; Twin Linked Lascannon; Missile Launcher

I've had a couple of succesfull games with this setup, and its power comes from putting out a reasonable number of shots, not dying to return fire (2 Medics), moving while shooting, and slapping anything that comes within fist range!

Wohoo! 3 Columns is the way to go!

After a few hours of painfully tryng to get three columns here, I finally found excellent guidance here. Although I did find alot of good info at various places, this one worked for me. *Queue Happy dance*

Addendum: I've also used the info here to tweek widths and tidy everything up a bit. Thanks to both!

Farmer Geddon's Forces

The games I alluded to in the first post fall into 3 categories. The first is Games Workshop miniature games. I've been playing, collecting and occasionally painting since approximatly 1992, when I started Man'O'War (yes, I'm sure you've heard of it!) I've... Accrued many many mini's from many many armies over the last 17 years. Here's a list of what I have in cases (ready to play) and in boxes (unbuilt and and playable)...

Bloodbowl: Dark Elves (Nagaroth Nightmares, 1994), Humans (Nuln Blackhands 2005), Custom Northmen (part built 2001)

Necromunda: Escher (2003)

Warhammer 40,000:

Eldar - 2500ish playable, 2500 in boxes. Started 1995ish.
Dark Angels - 4000ish playable, 2000 in boxes. Started 2000.
Imperial Guard (Preatorians/Cadians) - 1500ish playable, 1500 in boxes. Started 2002.
Chaos spacemarines(custom) - 1000ish in boxes, started 2003.
Orks (speed freeks) - 2000ish in boxes, started 2005.
Tau - 1500ish playable, 1000 in boxes. Started 2008.

Warhammer Fantasy Battle:

Gobblins (No Orcs!) - 2000ish playable, 1000 in boxes, started 2000.
Dogs of War (still a legal army!) - 1500ish playable, 1000 in boxes. Started 2001.
Wood Elves - 1500ish playble, 1000 in boxes, started 2005.
Empire - 0 playable, 2000 in boxes, started 2006.
High Elves - 0 playable, 2000 in boxes, started 2007.

Over time I hope to throw some posts and pictures for each force...

First things first

A bit of a fad, hopefully not a passing one, is to document your life, loves, and significant events for the whole interweb to digest. My life is fairly ordinary as such things go, my loves include my wonderful girlfriend, her cooking, my family, books, music, good tv, and games. Oh, and the colour purple.
Someone may benefit from this record, not least I hope, me.