Today, which is also my birthday, we travelled to Dublin for OctoCon, the Irish National Sci-Fi Convention, and it’s been a fun trip so far.

I got to the airport nice and early and was though security quite quickly which left me with a long wait for my flight, and Newcastle Airport has changed a lot since I was last there, and it was so busy even for October.

Strangely Ryanair don’t give the gate number until 10 minutes before the gate closed, which meant getting to the gate once I knew which one it was, was a slight rush, but I got there and I am pleased I payed for priority boarding.

I then made my way to Dublin city centre where I headed straight for Bewleys on George Street for a cake and a cup of tea, once that was done I hit Dunnes and stocked up on some pop for the next couple of days, and grabbed some Bewleys Gold teabags to take back home.

I then got to the hostel, where there were a few issues finding my booking, which got us upgraded to a four person dorm instead of a twelve person dorm.

So I then spent the next few hours laying on the bed recovering from the pain of travelling and read my book for a bit before heading up to Pitt Bros, a BBQ smokehouse.

I will be honest I wasn’t all that impressed with it. It’s no Dirty Bottles, which is a rather excellent smokehouse in Alnwick, and probably the best independent restaurant I have ever visited.

The problem with the food here was that the meat was very bland, and to make up for the blandness you had sauce, but the sauce was just so sickly sweet it made my teeth tingle, it lacked any spice or fire, even the so called hot sauce barely registered any heat.

I guess part of my problem is that I am actually good at making that type of food, when I am capable of cooking, which is less often than I would like, I can Cooke a really good batch of pulled pork, and I don’t mind blowing my own trumpet, but mine is succulent and juicy, whilst this was bland and dry.

I don’t like leaving a restaurant and feeling like I could have made a better version of the meal at home.

Anyway, then it was back to the hostel, where I spent the night reading and just relaxing on the bed.

What I am Modelling

On Monday I had a big session of model building, starting with a few limited edition models I had acquired over the past few years.

I built the 2011 Forgeworld MKIII Boarding Marine, who is going to be a Praetor for my Breacher list.

Then I built three models for my Blood Ravens, the First was Captain Centos, which an American friend got for me, and it’s a very nice model, really shows how far Games Workshop resin has come on since the bad old days of the Finecast launch.

And a Terminator Librarian I got from a stores rebranding, and this is a beautiful model, much nicer than the standard resin version.

I also built a Primaris Librarian for the Blood Ravens and a Tau Sniper Drone Team.

And finally for the Blood Ravens the boring 30th Anniversary is Warhammer 40k Intercessor Sgt model, not sure how often I will use this, but I am a sucker for limited edition stuff. I might end up getting a Combat Squad box of Intercessors and use four of them to build a Stalker Bolter squad and the spare to build a Bolt Rifle guy with an Auxillary Grenade Launcher.

I then put together my MKII Ultramarines Volkite Charger Support Squad. It was during an episode of Edge of Empire that Graham convinced me that a squad equipped with Volkite Chargers would be just as viable as a squad with Calivers, and so I resolved to build one. I bought the Chargers on the way to EasterCon when we called into Warhammer World for breakfast and had intended to build the squad with MKIII armour, buying the shoulder pads as well, because I had plastic MKIII armour spare.

But since then, I decided I wanted a squad that would look really old school, as if they were from the earliest days of the great crusade when Tactical Squads were armed with Volkite Chargers as standard, and for that I wanted them to be in MKII armour. So that’s what I have built them wearing, and I have given them moulder shoulder pads and a MKII Command Upgrade Set Sgts head.

The squad looks really cool and I can’t wait to get them onto the painting table.

Before I headed off to Dublin, I finished up a couple of models for my Blood Ravens.

First up here is an Imperial Space Marine, originally released to celebrate 30 years of Space Marine models in 2016, this is an amazing model and I absolutely love it.

And here is the Primaris Space Marine Captain for store birthdays, armed with a Plasma Pistol and Power Fist. Painted up here for my Blood Ravens

Much better model than the standard Primaris Captain and full of so much character, loved painting this model and he will happily be hitting the table soon.

I have started putting my model photos through Photoshop Express on my phone to try and make them look better, I think it’s working, what do you guys think?

I did a dry brush on Grand Master Voldus but that’s as far as I got with him.

What I am Reading

Apart from today I have read very little this week, but I am still plodding my way through The Rmperor Expects by Gav Thorpe.

What I am Playing

I haven’t played anything this week at all, not even a game of Ticket to Ride on my phone.

What I am Backing

No projects this week, but Conspiracy Theory is tempting me, it looks good but $25 shipping is expensive.

What I am Cooking

Sadly I have not been capable of cooking this week, I couldn’t even reheat hot dogs, I hate my body sometimes.

What I am Spending

Well I bought myself the 30th Anniversary Space Marine model, I said I wouldn’t because it was so dull and boring, but the completionist in me won out.

I also bought a Red Lantern t-shirt, because they are my favourite Lantern Corps.

  • Mood: Excited
  • Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 3
  • In My Ears: Something Kinda Ooooh by Girls Aloud
  • Game Last Played: Unspeakable Words Deluxe
  • Book Last Read: The Emperor Expects by Gav Thorpe
  • Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Bones
  • Current State of Projects: Grand Master Voldus, deybrushed