Month: October 2017

Upgrading the Studio

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On 30th October 2017

In Blog

A few years ago I made the investment in getting proper audio recording equipment for podcasting, and I am putting it to decent use with the Edge of Empire podcast, and perhaps will be doing something else with it in the near future too.

Anyway at the moment it’s set up in the studio and is capable of hosting two people in there and I have a mix-minus set up using an old PC just for Skype to bring other people into the studio.

It was always the plan to be able to set up the equipment elsewhere to allow for recording with four people in the same location and now I am planning on adding the extra equipment to do that, in fact I have already added some of it, and it’s lead to a few discussions about what I do add to it.

What I have done to enable this, is I have bought a gig bag to transport the mixer and headphone amplifier, along with power cables for them so I don’t have to pull them from behind my studio desk. In the bag is also four XLR cables to run the microphones and two pop filters, to which I will add the two from my studio.

And I picked up four scissor arm microphone stands, I already have two set up on my studio desk, but pulling them out would be a real pain in the bum, and I want to minimise the disruption when recording elsewhere, so I have four available to just take with me where I need them.

This leaves me missing three items, two extra microphones and a pair of headphones, eventually it will be two pairs of headphones, but Lindsay has a pair of monitor headphones that I got her for her birthday this year, which are identical to my ones and she has said I may use them when I need more than three sets of headphones.

The discussion I have been having, both with myself and with the girls is around buying identical equipment to what I have or upgrading the ones in permanent use, or at least upgrading one of them, because most of the time it’s just me in the studio.

At the moment I use MXL 990 microphones and if I were to upgrade I am thinking of an Audio-Technica AT-2035, but that’s considerably more than the MXL 990s which do a pretty good job and sound excellent to my ear.

Headphone wise I currently use some Audio-Technica ATH-M30x and these are really good, they deliver excellent sound quality and are very comfortable to wear. If I were to upgrade the next model up the Audio-Technica ATH-M40x is very tempting, and has the advantage of a detachable cable.

So I am currently thinking that initially when I buy the third microphone just after Christmas, it will be another MXL 990, and then I shall see what the money is like before pulling the trigger on buying the fourth. If there is enough money then I will buy a better one, if not another MXL 990 will suffice. The money situation will also decide on what pair of headphones I get as well.

Something else to consider would be if there is a noticeable difference between an upgraded microphone and the original, when we do have more than one person using the setup, would we be risking a notice or difference between myself using the more expensive microphone and everyone else using the MXL 990s, and would that as a result make things sound a bit off.

Another thing to consider is that the MXL 990s are very very sensitive, so literally pick up every mouse click I make whilst recording the show, and I do need to use the mouse to change between stuff on the screen so I can keep myself clear with the show notes, which makes me think they might not be so great on the road, and perhaps something a little less sensitive might be better for that, so it’s something I need to look at, but this would be expensive because instead of buying two additional microphones, I would be buying four additional microphones.

But then it’s been pointed out that four people in the same place would lead to quite a bit of microphone bleed using the MXL 990s, so perhaps I would be better off with four dynamic microphones, like the Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB. However the problem with that is, that they would be a lot of money to buy four of them, and they are very hard to get hold of in the UK. And looking at the oft suggested alternative the Samson Q2U presents the same issues.

So in terms of that possibility I am looking at the Behringer Ultravoice XM8500, which is cheap as chips, about £20 a microphone which would make four of them much less than the cost of a single MXL 990. And its not like they would be in constant use, they would only be for the situations where we have more than two people to record with. 

But there is an added cost to getting these that I will need to consider, I will need shock mounts for all four of them, but these will only be a few pounds each. Then again, it’s a dynamic microphone so a shock mount isn’t that big of a deal for it.

Another upgrade I am in the process of making are a pair of lavalier microphones for recording videos, they are only cheap ones as video isn’t intended to be a big thing, and they are more to experiment with before making a bigger investment in that area. Plus I already have a shotgun microphone for that as well, which can do quite a bit of that very well.

Video is something I want to explore more of, just got to figure what kind of content we want to do and how to go about doing it and get good results.

The other upgrade will eventually be a small setup for Graham, at the moment he records using a not so great microphone, and his channel often needs a bit of work. I was considering grabbing him a cheap mixer and another MXL 990 so we have prettty similar sound quality, but if I go down the route of the four Behringer Ultravoice XM8500 then he could be given one of those and a XLR to USB adaptor to plug it into his computer, throw in a scissor microphone stand and a pop filter and he would be giving me much better audio.

So considering all this, I have decided that I will be going down the Behringer Ultravoice XM8500 route, my MXL 990s are expensive and if they were damaged when out of the studio, it’s a lot of money to replace one, whereas the XM8500 is already extremely durable and if damaged would be easy and cheap to replace.

Anyway I am hoping to have the ability to do four microphones for the Heresy Weekender in March, which I should be able to manage, would be nice to set up a mini studio and record with some of the attendees which will be cool.

What I am Modelling

I finished off Grand Master Voldus, and I am very happy with him. A lovely model to paint and full of so much detail. I have been considering a small force of Grey Knights to accompany my Militarium Tempestus and I think I am now sold on the idea, so that will be something at look at probably late next year.

On Friday I started some work on the last few models for my Breacher heavy list, specifically the pair of Land Raider Proteus for the two MKIII Breacher Squads and the 2011 MKIII Boarding Marine who is going to be the lists Praetor.

I have the Boarding Marine about 60% done and the Land Raiders about 50% done right now.

What I am Reading

I have gone this week without picking up my Kobo, but I have almost finished listening to Path of Heaven

What I am Playing

I haven’t played any games this week, but me and Lindsay are going to play Carcassonne tomorrow at Raiders.

What I am Backing

Still backing Munchkin Starfinder right now, it’s only got a few days to go, but I strongly suggest you go and back it because it’s going to be brilliant, really hoping we get to $60k and get those credsticks.

Today our package from The Creativity Hub arrived which contained our reward for backing Untold, which included the game, Batman Story Cubes (which are going to my nephew Freddie for Christmas) Adventure Time Story Cubes and the Story Cubes Collectors Box into which has gone all our non licensed sets of Story Cubes.

What I am Cooking

Illness and fatigue has kept me out of the kitchen this week, so I haven’t cooked anything.

What I am Spending

As previously said I have purchased a few little things for the podcast, specifically a pair of pop filters, a lead for the mixer a couple of cheap lavalier microphones, and four scissor arm microphone stands. And from the same place I got an adaptor that will allow Lindsay to use the headphones I got for her birthday with her record player.

I was able to pick up a second hand Behringer Ultravoice XM8500 for a few pounds on eBay, so I snapped that up to assess it before I make the plunge I buy a bunch more.

I also made a small purchase from Forgeworld, I got myself a Legion MKIV Destroyer Squad with Jump Packs to expand my current squad to 10 men and a Malanthrope for my Tyranids.

And I bought a Cadre Fireblade for my Tau, I was a little unsure about the model, it’s never really appealed to me that much, but I was feeling down and wanted to cheer myself up.

I was also offered a sweet deal on a Skull Cannon and some Blood Crusher from a friend, he bought a Start Collecting box but just wanted the Bloodletters, so I kinda snapped up that deal.

Slightly boring purchase, I bought a new doorbell for the house as some little toe rag nicked ours, but I did something we have been thinking of doing for a while and got one with two ringers, one for upstairs and one for downstairs. When me and Megan are bad we can’t always get to the door and the current ringer is hard for Lindsay to hear in her office during the day, so by having two we can make sure that the door gets heard by everyone and if we aren’t able to go, Lindsay can.

Ugh, My Tummy Hurts

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On 25th October 2017

In Blog

This past week has been dominated by a couple of things, the bigger being my having a tummy bug.

Lindsay and Megan babysat my nephew Willem so his mum Jane could go out for her birthday, however that household have been suffering with a tummy bug and Willem is a very kissey baby and gave lots of wet kisses to Lindsay and Megan.

They subsequently picked up the tummy bug and brought it home. The weekend in which we had planned to use to go to Dirty Bottles in Alnwick, followed by me playing Dropfleet Commander ended up being sat on the sofa with Netflix.

I thought I was better last night, but no I woke up this morning and it was the worst it has been, and thus Lindsay who has only just finished work, had to clean up my projectile vomit from the bathroom.

The Sunday before last we finished up our mini holiday in Hull with games, and then we traveled back, I went to Club on Tuesday and it was a rather ordinary week, although I did get through an appointment for my Work Capability Assessment which threw me for six, I know it was coming but it was still a shock that it was coming so soon.

What I am Modelling

This week I have mostly just built models for my Blades of Khorne army.

I had planned to play a friend a game of Age of Sigmar at Battle Bunker on Thursday, but unfortunately that has now closed down, and we couldn’t go to GW in Sunderland as it wasn’t open yet, so we just had a drink and a double cheeseburger in McDonalds before I made my way home.

Anyway I arranged to play a 2000 point game yesterday at Durham Raiders with Aidan, again Age of Sigmar. But I only had 1000 points of the army built, so I ended up spending a day building up the units I needed.

I built a unit of 30 Bloodletters, 3 Blood Crushers, a Daemon Prince, a Herald of Khorne and a Skull Cannon which mostly made up a small Murderhost.

I then spent a few hours on Monday priming them, and a bunch of other stuff I recently built, but annoyingly whilst cleaning my airbrush, I managed to break it a little, but I have put the thing through its paces and pushed it to its limits of being used by an amateur.

I have struggled with painting of late, but I have a plan, I am going to finish Grand Master Voldus and then try and start the breaking of the back of the Khorne army by painting all of the Bloodletters. So today I have cracked on with Grand Master Voldus and now have him about 80% done.

What I am Reading

I have not read very much of late, I have picked up Ruinstorm by Grand Master Voldus, but haven’t made much progress.

But I have been listening to Path of Heaven which is a good book, I love Chris Wraights work and this book is no different.

What I am Playing

Most of my games were on the last day in Hull, but we are now going to start up a regular board games Sunday in which we do nowt but play games, and the first one is scheduled for the 12th November.

We started out with a game of Luchador Mexican Wrestling Dice, it was a tag team game with girls vs boys. Me and Paul were doing alright, but then everytime I got a chance to pin I kept rolling to showboat and ended up getting pinned myself!

Then we played a game of Ticket to Ride Europe, which is my favourite map, but Megan sat that one out as she didn’t feel her brain could handle it, anyway I had a rough game, Paul and Lindsay kept taking the routes I needed and it being a three player game made it very difficult, I was forced to use two stations which cost me the game in the end. But I love Ticket to Ride, it’s the perfect game for a Sunday.

Then we played Pandemic Legacy, our third game in the campaign and Megan’s anxiety was running really high, because it was a very tense game, but we had a great team picked and we managed quite well and kicked February’s arse!

But our next game will be harder as our funding has dropped to 2!

We then finished off the day with a game of Joking Hazard, which will probably condemn us all to hell for some of the cards we played, and followed that with a few games of Firefly Fluxx.

On the Tuesday at Durham Raiders I played Stuart in Warhammer 40,000 with my Word Bearers, we played with Open War Cards and drew the kill the courier mission. His force was all Chaos Terminators, Abaddon the Despoiler and a Knight, he made his Knight the courier and I made my Spartan mine.

It was a tough game, but I sacrificed a few things to take out Abaddon before being able to position everything to hit the Knight, and my Spartan, Xiphon and Deredeo made short work of it and won me the game.

Yesterday I played Aidan at Age of Sigmar, although he forgot we were playing and I was lucky that he had 2000pts worth of Stormcast Eternals in his boot so we could still play.

I haven’t played many games of Sigmar and I am learning more and more about my army, but still learning the rule.

Was my first time with Khorne Daemons, and I forgot the Murderhost special rule, but I did manage to chain quite a few things together to really put my Bloodletters to good use.

Need to concentrate on getting army painted because I don’t like playing with an unpainted army.

What I am Backing

I have pledged for Munchkin Starfinder, I love Munchkin, the Starfinder books are excellent, so this was a bit of a done deal for me. It’s only a short campaign but it’s kicking down stretch goals nicely and should be a decent set.

This week three Kickstaters arrived, first off I got my Wound Wangs, which are excellent and I have already used, very helpful and I hope the dudes behind it make them more widely available cause a few people have asked where they can get them.

Secondly and thirdly, and they both arrived at the same time, I got the two projects from Steve Jackson Games I backed, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, which I backed to get the box, Companion book, GM Screen and the How to be a GURPS GM book. Very happy with this set, the writing is top notch and I really need to do some RPGs again soon.

And alongside that came Munchkin Shakespeare which is a very funny set, the jokes are good and they have put a lot of work into it. I know Munchkin isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I find it a fun game to play and I really like the art work and jokes. Anyway this will be getting distilled into my Monster Box this week.

What I am Cooking

I made Cowboy Beans, but if I am honest they were not all that great, mostly because I accidentally put the slow cooker on high instead of low, and I used a variation of the original recipe.

It also didn’t help that I made them on the night that we all got sick.

I did earlier in the week however, make some pulled chicken sandwiches, I boiled the chicken thighs in water witch cumin, and onion and two cloves of garlic along with a stock cube and it was really nice, I mixed with my Kansas City BBQ Sauce and it was beautiful.

I had meant to use the stock to make a soup, but, I didn’t feel up to it, so we ended up throwing it out, which was a shame as it was a good stock.

What I am Spending
Trying to spend as little as possible still, I bought a pot of Nuln Oil Gloss and a few Christmas presents.

I did somehow manage to acquire a squad of Hellblasters, but I can’t remember doing so, thus I think I had a memory lapse again.

I did buy some t-shirts from me and Graham for our visit to Blood and Glory in a couple of weeks, specifically t-shirts for our podcast, and I am really happy with how they turned out, and ma very grateful to Lindsay for helping us out with them.

OctoCon and Back Again and then Down to Hull

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On 15th October 2017

In Blog

I had a lot of fun at OctoCon it was a brilliant event. I started Friday by waking up late and having to get breakfast elsewhere, I ended up having a Burger King. I then wandered around a bit and sound Games Workshop, where I bought a Lord of Plagues for my AoS Chaos army and an Intercessor Squad.

I then went down to the hotel where I waited for the con to start, I had enquirer about helping to set up, but my crippling social anxiety kicked in and I found myself stuck to the spot and too scared to go and speak to anyone to offer my services.

So I just hid in the toilet, but I was eventually able to come out where I had a cup of tea before I attended the opening ceremony.

That evening I attended a few panels, A Good War Story, which was about the pull of the war story and was really interesting, then there was one on psykers and psychics, which was fascinating as the Irish have a lot of supernatural stuff in their culture, such as the description of “the cure” by Dave Rudden.

And finally I attended a panel on the legalities and ethics of colonising Mars, which was quite deep, and considered a lot of points I would never have ever thought of.

Then I made my way back to the hostel and slept, and I managed to wake up on time for breakfast on Saturday, but it wasn’t worth it, as breakfast consisted of cornflakes, wheatabix or toast, not exactly what I would call a continental breakfast!

I ended up getting a breakfast roll from a shop near the hotel, but the lady serving had a really thick accent that was part Thai and part Irish, which I struggled to understand, and when I thought she was saying butter or margarine, was actually butter or mayo, so I had mayo in my bacon sandwich, which was different.

I then attended Civilisations in Decline which looked at why we are so fascinated by dystopian societies in fiction, and then there was a panel called Hero for our Times which looked at hero’s in fiction which reflect the times we live in and was a lot of fun.

Then I attended Who Guards the Galaxy which a panel in which Dan Abnett discussed his work on Guardians of the Galaxy and that was brilliant, a lot of insight into how he put the team together and made it work, and thus how we ended up with the movies on our screen.

After lunch was the Guest of Honour interview and it was really cool, Dan and Nik Vincent-Abnett are really nice people and they were able to get across what they do and how they work really well.

Afterwards they did a signing session and I was able to get both of their scribbles in my autograph book, I wish I had been brave enough to approach other people to add their scribbles, there were loads of cool people there like Diane Duane, Michael Carroll and Peter Morwood, but my shyness prevented me from just approaching them. I really need to get a handle on that, it’s really spoiling my life sometimes.

Then I attended a panel on space exploration called How Far We’ll Go, followed by a Kaffeklatsch on Rick and Morty which was a lot of fun, difficult because it was a small group and I couldn’t disappear into a crowd but it was cool. And then finally I attended a panel on horror in gaming called Plug into Fear, which was one of my favourites as it explored how game developers and scriptwriters get people scared in video games and that was really very informative.

I decided to then go home, I couldn’t handle the Monsters Ball, my anxiety was just too high and I was really struggling at that point, so I went home via a Persian kebab restaurant called Zaytoons which was really really good. I love Persian food and the saffron flavoured chicken shish kebab was to die for.

I then took a slow walk back to the hostel and the area was quite cool, I quickly realised with all the fancy bars and restaurants, it was Dublin’s answer to Shoreditch, and it was actually a ice atmosphere and there was some amazing street art.

Sunday morning I had a little lie in and then got my breakfast from the same place as Saturday, only this time making sure I got butter!

I then attended a panel called Deadlines will keep us together which was about how couples work together and was quite nice, the two couples, Dan Abnett and Nik Vincent-Abnett and Diane Duane and Peter Morwood had a lot of good stories about how couples collaborate on their work and how two voices can sometimes produce a much better piece of work.

After that it was another space exploration panel, followed by lunch and then a panel with Dan Abnett and Michael Carroll on writing for 2000AD which was brilliant, I mean two of the best comic writers together in one room was just mind blowing and I was brave enough to ask a question, which was about how the culture differs between British comic publishers and US comic publishers.

Then I did a panel on armour which was cool as they had some examples of armour which was made in the same way as it would have been made in the past, and a timeline of helmets which was really cool, and my final panel was Horror in Contrast which was all about the different psychological tricks that different media’s have to use to convey horror, and that was very enlightening.

After this there was a brief run though of future conventions, and then the closing ceremony.

There was after that a meeting of volunteers for Dublin 2019, but I kind of ducked out very quickly after Simone asked my name, my anxiety just took over, so I quickly escaped to the Persian restaurant and had another meal there before going to the hostel where I had an early night.

The next morning I was up early as I had an early bus, but I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, despite all the Ireland fans travelling for the World Cup Qualifier in Cardiff.

I made sure I had a nice Irish snack for my flight back, which consisted of a pack of Taytos, a Cadbury’s Mint Crisp and a bottle of Club Rock Shandy.

When I got to Newcastle I was briefly questioned by the police, turns out saying your 95 on the plane whilst tapping the counting app worried the chap next to me!!!

Anyway I got the Metro to Heworth where Paul and Megan picked me up and Tom me home, and in the evening to celebrate my birthday we went out for a Smashburger.

Trip to Hull

This weekend we are off on our annual October getaway, we have rented a cottage just outside Hull with a hot tub and it’s been lovely.

On Friday we came down early so that we could visit The Deep, a place I have always fancied visiting, and it was amazing, I have never been to an aquarium before but it was amazing.

The tickets work like Beamish so we can use them again anytime in the next 12 months and I really think we will be, it was brilliant, and of course Lindsay loved the penguins.

When we go to the cottage we chilled out had Pizza and watch some Big Bang Theory, before relaxing in the hot tub.

On Saturday we took a quick run out to grab some dishwasher tablets and cream cakes, and then spent the day playing games and generally chilling.

Paul joined us in the evening for the rest of the weekend, we had som burgers and then went in the hot tub before relaxing in front of the TV and some classic Red Dwarf.

What I am Modelling

I haven’t lifted a paintbrush this week, but I did build a few things. I built 6 guys to add to an Intercessor Squad with Bolt Rifles to bulk them out to 10 men and I built another 4 Intercessor with Stalker Bolt Rifles to add to the Anniversary Sgt.

And I also built my Y’Vahra, which is a beautiful model, I know most people have one because it’s really powerful on the table, but I just really like the model.

I also put together a Firestorm Redoubt I picked up recently for the Heresy Weekender.

On Tuesday I plan to prime all the models I have built recently.

What I am Reading

I finished up The Emperor Expects which was a very good book and I am going to start reading Ruinstorm when I get home and can load it on my Kobo.

I also finished up the audiobook of Lorgar – Bearer of the Word, which was a very enjoyable book, very different to the other Primarch stories and was a really good listen, Gav Thorpe did a brilliant job building up the world of Colchis and really brought it to life.

What I am Playing

Being away on our annual relaxing trip, we have played quite a few games.

We have today played Unspeakable Words, which I surprisingly won, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past, in which I was the villain and I lost.

We then played three games of Math Fluxx using Plan C and I won two games and lost one, and finally a game of Love Letter: Batman which Megan won.

What I am Backing

Absolutely nowt this week!

What I am Cooking

I did get cook dirty rice this week, although I managed to add a lot more Cajun spice mix than I intended.

I am loving dirty rice, I have made it with lots of veg and it’s lovely, I do want to try it with mushrooms at some point.

What I am Spending

As I said earlier I bought the Lord of Plagues and Intercessor Squad in Dublin’s Games Workshop.

I want the ability to take my recording equipment places so I have invested in a bag to carry my mixer in and some spare XLR cables. I also bought a power cable for my headphone amplifier, I can’t justify buying another for the mobile setup, and pulling all the cables out when taking it on the road will be a huge pain in the arse.

But a second power adapter will allow me to simply unplug it and take it with me. That said the revised model of the amplifier I have is very nice looking, and I won’t lie, I was tempted by it!

  • Mood: Relaxed
  • Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 7
  • In My Ears: A Little Respect by Erasure
  • Game Last Played: Love Letter: Batman
  • Book Last Read: The Emperor Expects by Gav Thorpe
  • Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Red Dwarf
  • Current State of Projects: Grand Master Voldus stalled!

Dublin, I am In You!!!

By

On 6th October 2017

In Blog

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

A Feast, Little Bit Sick and Looking Forward to OctoCon.

By

On 2nd October 2017

In Blog

I have been a little sick this weekend, everything I have eaten, I have thrown up, which is never a good thing, but I am feeling on the mend now.

On Friday me and Megan attended our first Nineteen Day Feast in a few years, and it was nice to be around fellow Bahá’ís again after so long. We said some wonderful prayers and then chatted together and it was lovely. I won’t leave it so long next time.

On Thursday I fly out to Dublin for OctoCon and I am really looking forward to it, I have downloaded the event program and have picked out what I want to attend and it’s should be really cool.

Trying to give myself a wide range of panels ranging from hard science to horror to comics, with a couple of kaffeeklatschs as well.
And as usual when I am at a con I will do my best to keep people updated as to how it’s going.

I worry about my pain levels whilst there, and I obviously hope my brain doesn’t melt and I have a forgetful day, but all I can do is hope, because there are no guarantees with my health.

What I am Modelling

I took my time with these but I finished up my third Breacher Squad, and they are equipped with two Graviton Guns, a Vexilla and Nuncio-Vox.

This means I have all of the troops for my breacher list done, now I just need to dig out the 2011 Event Only Boarding Marine I have somewhere in the studio that I intend to use as my Praetor for the list and that’s all the infantry done. I also have to finish up the transports, I have two Land Raider Proteus for them, one which is built and primed, the other was in its packet until Sunday and is now built and waiting to be primed.

I also painted up the Legion Moritat, which is armed with a Volkite Serpenta and a Plasma Pistol. Sadly in a couple of places the primer went on a little thick which lost a little detail, so that’s bad, but it’s a great model and I loved painting him, now I just want another five destroyers to add to the five I already have, who can then accompany him.

I have now started work on three individual models, the first two being the Store Anniversary Primaris Captain with Plasma Pistol and Power Fist, and the Imperial Space Marine from last year, both of whom are joining my Blood Ravens.

And the third is Grand Master Voldus from the Triumvirate of the Primarch set. Now I don’t have a Grey Knights army, but, I am considering getting a small force of them to accompany my Millitarium Tempestus force, and that depends on how I find painting this model.

Anyway those three models have had their first colour put on and have had a wash, which is now drying.

What I am Reading

I finished listening to The Crimson King by Graham McNeil, which has helped solidify the story in my mind, I struggled to read it because my head was in a lot of pain when I was trying to do so.

I have been reading through The Emperor Expects by Gav Thrope and so far I am really enjoying it, best book in The Beast Arises series so far. I am really enjoying the politics and infighting amongst the Imperium, there had been relatively little action in the book, but that’s not exactly a bad thing.

What I am Playing

We managed to play a game of Unspeakable Words Deluxe, I came last, but it was fun. I tried to stick to low scoring words to try and slowly build up points, but somehow I kept rolling too low, and very quickly was down to a single sanity pawn.
I am not usually a big fan of word games, but I really enjoyed this one and can’t wait to play it again.

What I am Backing

I am not currently backing anything, but I did back The Networks: Executives where I backed for the base game, On The Air and the Executives expansion.

I have been after the game for a while, ever since I missed out on it at the UK Games Expo in 2016, but every time it’s available I have no money, and when I have money, it’s out of print.

What I am Cooking

I haven’t been up to cooking this week, so it’s been quite a while now since I last cooked and next time I am due to cook I am away in Dublin, so will figure out what to cook when I get back.

What I am Spending

This week I managed to acquire the Triumvirate of the Imperium, most for Cawl to add to my Adeptus Mechanicum army, especially as I do run a Mars army. Greyfax will serve my Inquisition nicely, but I am not sure about Saint Celestine. Guess I will wait and see if we ever get new Sisters of Battle.

I also picked up the Open War Cards for Age of Sigmar, I meant to pick them up when I got the Generals Handbook but my budget was too tight at the time.

I bought Lorgar: Bearer of the Word by Gav Thorpe as an audiobook and as an ePub. Normally I don’t mention my book purchases here, but I have been looking forward to this book so much it seemed only right to mention it.

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