Year: 2017 Page 4 of 8

Dublin in 2019 Whoop!

On 14th August 2017

A brilliant thing happened this weekend at WorldCon 75 in Helsinki, the site for WorldCon 77 in 2019 was selected, and it is going to be in Dublin!

This is brilliant news and means I will be able to go to WorldCon, and Dublin is a brilliant city, so its going to be an amazing event. Myself, Lindsay and Megan are all planning on going, just looking at the costs at the moment and it does mean no Eastercon that year and the UK Games Expo will be reduced to a day trip, but it will be worth it.

WorldCon 77 will run from August 15th to 19th 2019 at the Convention Centre Dublin, a brilliant venue, and the Guests of Honour are Bill and Mary Burns, Diane Duane, Ginjer Buchanan, Ian McDonald, Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Steve Jackson.

If you love sci-fi and fantasy I encourage you to attend, going to a WorldCon is something I think all fans should do at least once in their lives, and this one looks to be an amazing one.

Interestingly EuroCon is the very next weekend in Belfast, so I am looking at doing that as well, although Megan isn’t sure she can handle it, so I would likely be on my own for that one.

What I am Modelling

Had a slow week of painting, my hand tremors were quite bad, so I only managed to finish off a squad of Space Marine Primaris Intercessors for my Blood Ravens.

I am quite happy with the new technique I am using as it has cut out a few steps and looks just as good.

Anyway, right now my Primaris Marines have a Captain in Gravis Armour, a Lieutenant and this Intercessor Squad.

I did do some building this week, I built a Chaplain on foot, a Repulsor and a Redemptor Dreadnought for the Blood Ravens.

This evening I started painting some Inceptors for the Blood Ravens from the Dark Imperium set, I have painted on the main colour of the armour and given it a wash

What I am Reading

I finished Deathfire and am now listening to Sons of the Forge, and I am finding it easier to follow it as an audiobook as opposed to it being in text, and unlike when I read it, I am actually enjoying it.

What I am Playing

On Tuesday I played Arran in a game of 40k, he was playing his Salamanders, and he brought a very powerful list with a couple of Sicarans, a Typhon and a Fire Raptor, it was a ever so slightly illegal list but I am not bothered by that personally.

It was a very fun game, we used the Open War cards and pulled the Comet with the Dead of Night twist, and it was a rather fun game, the objective arriving in a random location in the middle of the game is quite interesting.

I lost, but I did a lot of damage to his army, my weakness was being too conservative with pushing my forces forward, also didn’t help that I took 9 wounds off my Deredeo myself by rolling 9 1s when firing the Ectoplasm Battery!

I also played a game of 7 Wonders Duel with Lindsay on Sunday and I actually won, she made a poor decision in the first age, which allowed me to pull ahead on reources which eventually translated into a crushing victory!

What I am Backing

Founders of Gloomhaven ended this week and hit all its stretch goals, I shall look forward to getting that early next year.

Ogrezine is still funding and it’s looking like it’s going to be a decent magazine. I really need to get Ogre our to play a bit more often.

This week the two expansion decks for Paranoia arrived, Mutant Explosion and More [Redacted] Societies, looking through the decks there are a lot more options for the game now and they will add a lot of fun to an already fun system.

Also this week Pretending to Grownup arrived, and that has some very nice artwork in it. It was a really cool project as the designer got a lot of well know web comic artists on board to design cards for it, all of which are really nice.

What I am Cooking

This week I cooked Sloppy Joes, an American classic, which is basically a mince dish served in bread buns.

The recipe I used for this was influenced by my love of BBQ flavour, so I added BBQ and Tabasco to the sauce.

It was something I could prepare in advance and then heat up and add the cheese to later on, although I should have picked a better cheese, perhaps Monterey Jack.

Anyway it was served with chips and the girls rather enjoyed it, they gave it an 8/10.

To celebrate Dublin winning the right to host WorldCon77, on Sunday I cooked a coodle!

Been a long time since I made this and I lost my usual recipe so this one used one I got from the internet, on reflection there was too much bacon, not enough potatoes and it could have done with pearl barley, oh and I didn’t have parsley so I used mixed herbs. Also ham stock is delicious!

So I will be making this again and making a few improvements, probably adding in a carrot so Lindsay and Megan don’t complain about the veg content!

Next week I am doing a Tex-Mex chilli in the slow cooker.

What I am Spending

Trying not to spend any money, but I had a £10 voucher for eBay that was expiring so I used that to get a Deathwatch Chaplain as well, both are going to join my Blood Ravens.

I also had to pay the Royal Mail ransom money for Pretending to Grown Up, something I hate doing. I have no issues paying customs charges, but the £8 processing fee is exorbitant.

Mood: Happy
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 4
In My Ears: Linger by the Cranberries
Game Last Played: 7 Wonders Duel
Book Last Read: Paranoia – Guide To Alpha Complex
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Rick and Morty
Current State of Projects: Inceptors base coats on and washed

Pain and Sleep

By michael

On 8th August 2017

In Blog

As many of you know, I am not in the best of health and haven’t been for a few years. I have been suffering with some brain damage I sustained in a car accident with chronic pain and fatigue.

The fatigue is something that has been bothering me a lot, I am always tied and can fall asleep very easily, and I really want that to improve. So to help me the doctors are sending me for a sleep study to see if there is some sleep apnea going on, which is great bar one thing. The sleep clinic doctors want me off some of my painkillers for six weeks as they can interfere with the study.

And so for the past week I have no longer been given codeine and Tramadol, which has been a real nightmare. My body is in agony and I am struggling to move, I never appreciated how much the much the pills were doing for me.

On the one hand it’s solved part of the sleeping issue, the pain is now keeping me awake, but by the time exhaustion wins out over the pain, it’s very very late and I end up sleeping through much of the day.

Just having a general moan really, I have to do this for another 5 weeks, and I am not sure how I am going to be able to manage it.

What I am Modelling

At the beginning of the week I completed the Khorgorath from the Age of Sigmar starter set.

The skin was interesting to do and it’s a very challenging model to paint, now to let him loose on the mortal realms.

After that I set myself to work on the last six human players from the Blood Bowl starter set, the Reikland Reivers, although I found these fairly hard going this time.

I also do the Mighty Zug whilst I was doing those, although I might redo his trousers, I did them in off white to match the rest of the team but I am concerned that it makes him appear rather dull.

The Grav-Chutes and second set of Reivers arrived, so I did a little bit of work swapping some arms around on the two additional Reivers I built and now have a full squad of 5 Reivers equipped with Grav-Chutes.

In between the Bloodbowl players having washes drying I also quickly did the promo ships I got for my Dropfleet Commander UCM at the UK Games Expo, the two Athens Class Light Cruisers which are equipped with two UF-6400 Mass Driver turrets which allows them as a group to put out 8 shots locking on a 4+ with a 10” thrust, which is a nice little package for something only costing 86 points a ship.

Now I have started work on a squad of Intercessors for my Blood Ravens to give me a break from Fantasy based models. Last night I got down the base colours for the red and bone and gave them a wash and then tidied up the red armour, next up I am going to edge highlight the armour.

What I am Reading

I have been listening to Deathfire by Nick Kyme this week, a story which so obviously is inspired by Homers Odyssey, it might as well have a flashing neon sign proclaiming as much.

I do struggle with Salamanders stories, the names don’t do well with my brain damage, they are just really unfamiliar, but I am finding that with the audiobook I am following it much better.

I am going to listen to Sons of the Forge next, and that was a book I really struggled with, hopefully it will be better as well by listening to it.

What I am Playing

Haven’t played a game of anything this week, but I am playing Arran tonight at club with my Word Bearers and taking on his Salamanders

What I am Backing

No new projects this week but Steve Jackson Games have launched a Kickstarter for an Ogrezine this week so that is something I have decided to back, I am always wanting more content for Ogre.

Founders of Gloomhaven has a few days left on it, I really suggest you take a look at this one as it promises to be great!

What I am Cooking

This is a new section, so let me explain, since I got the brain damage, cooking has been very difficult for me.

I used to love cooking and I did it a lot, but these days I simply can’t cope with it, I am too forgetful and can barely manage to make a meal in the microwave.

So with the support of Lindsay and Megan, I am now going to try cooking one night a week, and this week I made Cowboy Beans in the slow cooker.

It’s a recipe which is basically like a BBQ chilli, and that’s how I approached it, I cooked beef, onion, chorizo, bacon, tomatoes, Pepper in the slow cooker with some beans and sausages (traditionally the dish uses Pork n Beans, but you can’t really get that in Sainsbury’s) butter beans and chilli kidney beans, along with some chilli, paprika, cheyenne pepper, Worcester sauce, brown sugar, BBQ sauce and a healthy dollop of American bourbon.

I let this cook for 6 hours and then served it up on cheese on toast. Was really quite nice, and I was rather proud big doing that, there was even enough left over for mine and Megan’s lunch the next day. We had Emily and her daughter Tilly over that day, and although Tilly declared she hated it before she tried it (well she is three), Emily, Megan and Lindsay all decided I can make it again.

What I am Spending

I overspent a bit this week, I decided to take a plunge and get some more bits for my Blood Ravens Primaris Marines, specifically a Redemptor Dreadnought and a Repulsor Tank. This means that for the 2000pt list I have written up of all Primaris Marines I now only need an Inceptor Squad, which I plan to pick up when they go up for preorder.

The Datacards for the Chaos Space Marines and Grey Knight have been preordered, I have a habit of collecting the Datacards, just in case I decide to start up those armies, in the case of these two, I am currently playing Chaos Space Marines and I do have a couple of Grey Knight models.

I also bought Sons of Anarchy the board game, it was s bargain from Buysend at £14.62 on Amazon. No idea why this hasn’t sold better, it’s a cracker of a game. So I will also be picking up the expansions at some point too.

I was tempted by and gave into some Santiago Class Corvettes for my UCM Fleet for Dropfleet Commander, I only wish that these came in sets of 3 rather than sets of 6, I just can’t see myself ever needing more than 3 in a game.

I want to get a few more ships for my UCM, specifically I want to build a squad of 4 Taipei’s which would require a Frigate box, and a coupe of Madrid’s which I could build out a Cruiser box. I also fancy building a St Petersburg, which would mean I need another Cruiser sprue, and then I also want a Beijing Battleship to finish off my UCM before I move onto the Scourge.

Of the things I have cooked in the past, Lindsay and Megan really like my pulled pork made with a BBQ sauce recipe I learnt at LonCon3, and I have been researching ways to improve the pork itself, so next week I am going to try cooking it in a different way, and for this I bought some Liquid Smoke. Something that’s a bit peculiar, I ended up getting it from Amazon, but then learnt I could have gotten it slightly cheaper from Waitrose, although our local Waitrose is quite small so not sure they would have stocked it.

And finally I spent £3.75 on a small Lego set of the Joker doing some battle training from the Batman Lego movie.

Mood: Tired
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 2
In My Ears: I Don’t Care – Fall Out Boy
Game Last Played: Warhammer 40,000
Book Last Read: The Crimson King by Graham McNeil
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Big Bang Theory
Current State of Projects: Intercessors Started

Bunker War 3!

By michael

On 2nd August 2017

In Blog

On Saturday I played in my first 40k tournament in over a year, the end of 7th edition killed me when it came to competitive play, at that stage it was so unbalanced it was unreal. Add to that some of the more competitive players in our local scene turned into massive knobs over the game and would bring lists that would simply curb stomp pretty much everyone, the Skyhammer Annihilation Force being the worst example of something that was so utterly broken as to be unreal.

Now I like formations, I think they are an interesting and sometimes fluffy way to build an army, but at some point they turned from being fun and interesting into being utterly ridiculous, designed simply to destroy older armies and had no negatives to them.

So anyway I didn’t play 7th for quite some time bar the occasional fluffy game here and there, I mostly stuck to Heresy. But that has changed with 8th edition, sure there are powerful lists out there, but the game feels a lot more fun now, I occasionally have a chance to pull off a miracle and destroy a Land Raider with massed bolter fire.

Anyway, I went along to Bunker War 3 at the Battle Bunker and I played three games with this list of Chaos Space Marines, and I got tabled in every game, but I enjoyed it!!!

First off I played Phil and his Tyranids, which was a hard as nails list and he finished me off in less than an hour, but it was a good game and I did manage to kill a couple of things.

Then I played Matts Tyranids, which was a beautiful painted army, and I managed to do much better this time, at the end of the game all he had left was a few big beasts, specifically a couple of Trygons and a Tyrannocyte, but no matter what I did I just could not finish off those last big ones.

Then I got to play against Nathan and his Necrons. I love Nathans army, every single time I see it, I just want to start Necrons, I love the Nihilakh scheme he has going on, and if I ever do Necrons that the scheme I will pick. In that game I pulled off a nice alpha strike and killed his warlord in turn one, but then just started racking up the losses after that. Necron Warriors are hard to kill and the Ghost Ark just shrugs off Lascannon shots with its Quantum Shielding.

As you can see below, I didn’t win the Wooden Spoon, but I did finish 3rd from last, but I don’t care about that because I had fun!

What I am Modelling

This week when I have gotten time for painting I have been concentrating on the Gorechosen models. I started with the Skullgrinder and Aspiring Deathbringer because these two models seemed to be the most similar in terms of colour scheme. I basically painted them exactly how I would a Blood Warrior and they turned out pretty good.

With the Skullgrinder it was my first time painting fire, something I need to sort out for when I do Roboute Guilliman with his sword. It came out ok, but I need to work more on my blending, because the colours have a definitive line.

I then picked up two Slaughterpriests, the one from Gorechosen and one that came free with last Septembers White Dwarf. For these I chose to go with two different schemes for the flesh, one reasonably normal and the other very pale, and that was rather fun. I have a third Slaughterpriest that came with the Start Collecting Khorne Bloodbound box and I think I am going to do him with black flesh.

With those two out of the way I started on the last model from Gorechosen, the Exalted Deathbringer, a model which has black skin, and that was something I was able to complete today. It was surprisingly quick to get painted up.

On the modelling front, I bought some Aggressors from Battle Bunker on Saturday and I built these on Sunday. I love these models, they are really cool, I think Gravis Armour is my favourite type of Mark X armour. At the same time I also build an Imperial Space Marine which is destined for the Blood Ravens.

What I am Reading

I haven’t picked up a book all week, but I have listened to a few audiobooks, specifically I listened to Ravenloard, Raptor and Tallarn: Executioner in my effort to get up to date with all of the Horus Heresy audio books and I have started on Deathfire.

What I am Playing

Apart from the games at Bunker War 3, I had a game against Graham and his Imperial friends list, which was very enjoyable, Graham has a very nice list there and shows how fun 8th edition can be, I wish I had taken some notes and photos of it now.

What I am Backing

Wound Wang successfully funded last night, now I need to decide what colour I want and what set to get. Was tempted by the War Machine Set, but I am now edging more towards the Company Set.

Founders of Gloomhaven continues to solicit funding, and there are some quite exciting stretch goals coming up on that one, the unique art for all prestige buildings is one I am particularly interested in seeing knocked down.

In fulfilment news, this week Pretending to Grownup had its shipping label printed so hopefully a few weeks and that will be added to our collection.

What I am Spending

As I mentioned earlier, I purchased a box of Aggressors, and along with them I got the Space Marine Datacards, an essential purchase of you want to play the army in my opinion.

I also bought the Space Marine Codex, but instead of buying it both physically and digitally, I have decided to only buy it digitally and see how that goes. When it comes to fiction I only buy ebooks for environmental reasons so I am doing the same now with Codexes and other gaming books.

Earlier in the week when we were doing some shopping I spotted the Back to the Future trilogy in ASDA for £10 on Blu-Ray and I had to have it, it’s something I had on VHS but didn’t replace for some strange reason.

The three extra easy build Reivers I ordered still have not arrived, so I have given up on the seller and asked for a refund, and have since purchased them elsewhere. I have also managed to get hold of five sets of Grav Chutes for them, so my Reivers will be equipped with them.

I have also now finalised the list I want for my Primaris Marines, to what I have, I will be adding another squad of Inceptors with Plasma Exterminators, a Redemptor Dreadnought and a Repulsor. So that’s only a further three kits to get to make 2000pts.
Oh and I bought a lot of Fuegan Orange shade.

Mood: Tires

Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 6

In My Ears: Domino Dancing by the Pet Shop Boys

Game Last Played: Warhammer 40,000

Book Last Read: The Crimson King by Graham McNeil

Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Game of Thrones

Current State of Projects: Khorgorath 80% done.

Octocon Membership Purchased

By michael

On 27th July 2017

In Blog

Last night I arranged my membership for Octocon 2017, which will be my first ever Octocon.

I got my arm twisted into going whilst I was at Eastercon, and it helped that the airfares with Ryanair were only £50, oh and Dan Abnett is a guest of honour which kinda sealed the deal!

Megan bought the membership for me, it’s my birthday present from her and Lindsay for this year. Only thing about the trip is that I leave for it on my birthday so will be all on my lonesome that night in Dublin, so I guess I will find a pub and have a drink to celebrate by myself.

Really looking forward to it, Lindsay is envious because when I get there I will be headed straight to Bewleys for a nice brew and will have fish and chips from Beshoffs for my lunch. I am also under orders to bring back some Bewleys tea for her.

Mood: Excited
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 1
In My Ears: Rock Lobster – The B52s
Game Last Played: Warhammer 40,000
Book Last Read: The Crimson King by Graham McNeil
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Bones
Current State of Projects: Highlighting began on Skullgrinder and Aspiring Deathbringer

An Apology

By michael

On 25th July 2017

In Blog

Yeah turns out the list I have been playing using my Word Bearers was slightly off. I relied on paper and pen to write the list whilst Battlescribe was being updated, and yeah with the FAQs it turns out instead of playing at 2000pts, I was actually playing 2007pts.

So I apologise to my opponents for taking a list that gave me a 7pt advantage.

Here is the list as it stands now and I will be taking this to Bunker War 3 on Saturday as well.

HQ – Chaos Sorcerer in Terminator Armour, Lightning Claw, Force Axe

HQ – Dark Apostle with Plasma Pistol

Troops – Chaos Cultists x 13, Heavy Stubber, Champion with Shotgun

Troops – Chaos Space Marines x 10, Flamer, Heavy Bolter, Champion with Lightning Claw

Troops – Chaos Space Marines x 10, Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Champion with Power Fist

Elites – Chaos Terminators x 5, 3 x Power Fist, Chainfist, Reaper Autocannon, Champion with Power Maul

Dedicated Transport – Chaos Rhino

Heavy Support – Hellforged Deredeo Dreadnought, Ectoplasma Battery, Greater Havoc Launcher

Flyer – Chaos Xiphon Interceptor

Lord of War – Hellforged Spartan Assault Tank

In other news if you go to this page, you can now see my Lorgar on the product page for the model, I am extremely proud of this, especially as it was a very simplistic paint job which included dry brushing the armour.

Mood: Apologetic
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 1
In My Ears: Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson
Game Last Played: Ultimate One Night Werewolf
Book Last Read: The Crimson King by Graham McNeil
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Game of Thrones
Current State of Projects: Skulgrinder and Aspiring Deathbringer Started, Sanguinary Guard no further progress made.

Bit of a Mess

By michael

On 23rd July 2017

In Blog

My studio is a real mess, and I really need to crack on and get it properly tidied.

A big issue is my large to do pile of projects and its time I actually got on and painted up some of this stuff, especially the stuff that will eventually live in the games collection downstairs, so I am going to start dedicating myself to building and painting a few of these games, particularly the two Warhammer Quest games, but before I do that, I think I need to invest in foam for these games, so that the models will be protected once they are painted.

What I am Modelling

This week I put my mind towards finishing off the Genestealers from Lost Patrol, for which I used a few different methods to paint them, all to figure out the easiest method to use for the rest of my Tyranids.

They turned out OK, although I am regretting deciding to do Hive Fleet Leviathan now, perhaps I should have picked an easier colour scheme, anyway the Tyranids will be something I return to probably towards the end of the year.

I have also been doing a little work on the Sanguinary Guard with Megan, but these have been moving quite slowly and I have also been working on the Captain in Gravis Armour from the Dark Imperium boxset, but this has also gone quite slowly, but I am close to having him finished.

Next I am going to be starting on the Gorechosen characters, so that like Lost Patrol I can get it out of the studio and into the games shelf.

Oh and I did get some foam for Lost Patrol a few weeks ago, it was from JustLasered, and its really quite good, a brilliant way to store the models, I just wish they did a tray for Gangs of Commorragh, I am not looking forward to building and painting that one, as the models look like they will be left to rattle around in the box.

What I am Reading

I haven’t done much reading again this week, just a few chapters here and there and I am still slowly working my way through The Crimson King by Graham McNeil.

I have however finished listening to Perturabo – Hammer of Olympia, and very much enjoyed it, I must admit that at the end of it Perturabo got a little bit too whiney, but it was a good read and was great as we have had very few glimpses into his life prior to the Heresy.

Its also interesting to see how much he changed during the Crusade, in Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero he was a very different character, much more optimistic and noble. I would love to read more tales of his life to see how he was gradually worn down into the bitter man he became by the Heresy.

What I am Playing

I actually haven’t played anything this week, will have to change that this week, I have already arranged a game of 40k against Graham on Tuesday and will be taking my Chaos Space Marines again.

What I am Backing

Not backing anything new this week, but WoundWang has 6 days left on it, and Founders of Gloomhaven is still funding for another 17 days.

What I am Spending

I bought another character for my Blood Ravens, this time a Deathwatch Terminator Captain, which is surprisingly cheap and is the only way to get that particular character outside a Start Collecting Box or Terminator Command Squad, and the Deathwatch Upgrade Frame might come in useful later on when I eventually do a small Deathwatch army.

I have also preordered a set of the Space Marine Datacards and I think I am going to order some Aggressors as well.

Mood: Hot
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 3
In My Ears: Crossfire by Brandon FlowersGame Last Played: Warhammer 40,000
Book Last Read: The Crimson King by Graham McNeil
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
Current State of Projects: Primaris Captain in Gravis Armour 75% Finished, Sanguinary Guard 50% Finished

Putting Together the PC and a Female Doctor

By michael

On 17th July 2017

In Blog

I have had a fairly dull week for the most part. But I did put together my computer again, tidy the studio a little and record a podcast episode.

The motherboard, CPU and memory arrived on Tuesday, I bought it as a bundle so it came already set up, all I did was slot my existing 8GB of RAM in, slip it into the case and attach the wires and connectors in the right place, as well as my wireless card.

The motherboard has 8 SATA inputs, and I am using 6 of those so I didn’t see any point in installing my SATA controller, not sure I will ever need to have 11 hard drives in addition to the Blu-Ray Drive.

The PC now boots up very quickly, almost seconds really, it’s a big improvement on what it was like before, the SSD really works very well with this motherboard. Because I rearranged a few things, I have had to reassign the hard drive letters, which has meant I had to reinstall a few programs, but I can think of worse things.

The really irritating thing was that with the new motherboard, Windows has decided that my licence was no longer good, thankfully this was easy to sort out, but quite irritating that I had to spend time dealing with that.

The mixer seems to work better now, probably helps that I downloaded updated drivers for it, and that has made recording the podcast a lot easier, also helps that I saw that the Skype channel had its gain set to maximum which explains why that was coming in so hot.

Overall things are improving with the studio, it’s still a big mess though and I need to do more tidying and sorting up there.

Of course the big news of the weekend is that we are getting a female Doctor for the first time. Personally I am not all that bothered, as long as she is a good actress and can bring something new to the role her gender doesn’t bother me, but it is fun to see how some people are overreacting to the news.

“It’s a leftie feminist PC conspiracy by the Tory Party to get us to accept Theresa May as Prime Minister” is one of my favourite complaints so far, the person who wrote that might have been dropped on the head as a child I think!

What I am Modelling

Not an awful lot this week, I decided to build my Primaris Marines at the beginning of the week and I got them primed, and since then I have added the Marines from First Strike as well.

I decided to paint up one of the Primaris Lieutenants as I quite like the model, it was the first model leaked and I will admit that at the time, I truly believed it was a very good kitbash, I am glad to be mistaken, because it is a quite nice model to paint.

Anyway I have decided to add the Primaris Space Marines to the Blood Ravens as they haven’t had any reinforcements in three years, and I must say the model looks good in the scheme.

It’s also the first time I have used this particular paint scheme on them, much simpler than the one I was using and unless you get up close you can’t tell the difference.

Since then I have decided to finish off the Lost Patrol models, I have already painted the five Space Marine Scouts and now I am going to get the Genestealers painted up, one is finished and three more are almost done, and I will probably start on the next four tomorrow.

What I am Reading

I haven’t picked up my Kobo this week but I have started listening to Perturabo – Hammer of Olympia by Guy Hayley and so far it’s pretty good.

It’s the first time I have read in fiction about his early life, and it’s an interesting society they created for him, and of course the fact the book features Dantioch is a bonus.

What I am Playing

I played a game of 40k against Harry from Mackem Painting at Raiders on Tuesday, we played Eternal War using the Relic mission.

I won the game but to be honest I wasn’t trying to, I was trying to help Harry learn 8th, and afterwards he did say he had a good time, so bonus.

I enjoy playing Harry, he is a good lad with plenty of decent banter.

Emily came round on Friday night so we also played a couple of games of Camel Up and a few rounds of One Night Ultimate Alien.

What I am Backing

Founders of Gloomhaven came across my screen, it’s looks really good, and I do like me a tile laying game.

But seriously the rules look solid and the game looks to be well developed, normally I am a bit reluctant to back a second project from an indie publisher whilst they still have a project outstanding, but in this case I am willing to make an exception.

What I am Spending

Too much, I am on a restricted budget yet still allowed myself to spend money I didn’t have. I bought myself the Reikland Reavers and Gouged Eye dice for Blood Bowl and a Space Marine Chaplain with a Jump Pack for my Blood Ravens.

I also got the Getting Started with Warhammer 40,000 magazine, mostly for the free Intercessor, when I add that to the free model I got o launch day and the three Intercessors from First Strike that gives me a full third Intercessor Squad.

Mood: Tired
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 4
In My Ears: Florence + The Machine – The Dog Days Are Over
Game Last Played: One Night Ultimate Alien
Book Last Read: Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: QI
Current State of Projects: 1 Genestealer painted.

My Poor PC

By michael

On 10th July 2017

In Blog

Not having a great week, my motherboard has gone and died on me, and it’s taken out my CPU on the way, so I have had to invest in a replacement motherboard and CPU.

I am not gonna pretend I can invest in anything amazing for my PC, I have gotten a Gigabyte F2A88XM-D3HP, which is a pretty decent motherboard in my opinion, and an AMD A8 7600 as a CPU. People have been telling me for years to get an Intel CPU instead of AMD, but the truth is that I have been buying AMD since my Socket A Athlon Thunderbird, and I have always been more than happy with them, and I feel like I get more bang for my buck with AMD.

Now I know they aren’t exactly going to set the world on fire with their performance, but they will make me more than happy, and it’s not like I use my PC to run graphics intensive games is it.

I am also getting 8GB of memory with it and I am going to combine that with the 8GB I already have to give my machine a respectable 16GB of memory.

Anyway the stuff should arrive on Tuesday so I am going to get that all fixed up ready to do some podcast recording on Wednesday.

What I am Modelling

This week me and Megan have painted a Blood Angels Tactical Squad, armed with a Heavy Flamer, Flamer and Hand Flamer on the Sgt for a squad that can literally bring the fire.

I have been wanting to do a Blood Angels army since the Deathstorm boxset and it’s something Megan wanted to help me with, and in the time since then all I have managed to do is paint a Tactical Squad up that I got with Kill Team, pain the scouts from Lost Patrol and a Librarian that I bought cause I wasn’t feeling good mentally at the time.

Next up we are doing a Sanguinary Guard Ancient and a squad of Sanguinary Guard to accompany him, tonight I got Retributor Armour down to form the base and then washed it with Reikland Fleshshade.

What I am Reading

I have been struggling with reading of late, the headaches are really giving me trouble concentrating, this week I haven’t read more than a couple of chapters of the Crimson King and I haven’t listened to any audio books.

What I am Playing

I played James’s Ultramarines this week and lost my first game of 8th Edition, it was a very close game and there was only a point in it. My Xiphon made a good show of itself again, but the Spartan took an early pounding and was gone in turn two.

What I am Backing

I have decided to back WoundWang, James got a sample of this when he was at Warhammer Fest and he let me look over it, and I have to say I am awfully impressed, simple and for vehicles with more than 9 wounds, will be a lot easier to use, so I am backing at the Warmachine level.

What I am Spending

Apart from the PC, I have preordered First Strike, I knew I wanted the Poxwalkers, Reivers and Plague Marines, and I have arranged a swap of the Intercessors for some more Reivers to give me a full unit of them.

With the Plague Marines I intend to combine them with the ones from Dark Imperium and split them into two units of 5, and then when a full multipart box comes out, just use one of them to bulk those two units out to full units of 10.

I also bought the Open Play cards and a Terminator Librarian for my Blood Ravens.

And today at Wilkinson’s I got a cold pillow mat to help keep my head cool at night, and so far it’s working quite well.

Oh and Under the Big Top arrived in stores so being the Carcassonne nut I am, that got bought.

Mood: Hot!!!
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 5
In My Ears: Love Rollercoaster by Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Game Last Played: Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition
Book Last Read: The Crimson King by Graham McNeil
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: The Big Bang Theory
Current State of Projects: Sanguinary Guard based and washed

Word Bearers – Complete

By michael

On 4th July 2017

In Blog

This week has been all about my sore back, it’s been really bad. I pulled a muscle at Warhammer World a couple of weeks ago and it’s been gradually getting worse. I even ended up being taken into the Urgent Care Clinic on Thursday to see what could be done for me, it was that bad. Thankfully since then it has calmed down a little, but it still hurts.

Other than that, I have been sat in the den at home painting, and this week I completed a couple of units that finished off my Word Bearers as I envisioned them.
It was last June I bought the first items that would go on to form my Word Bearers, the very first being a pack of Telerac Pattern Volkite Culverins and it was that which I used to finish off a Heavy Support Squad which was the last unit I painted for this army.

Originally thy were going to be for a squad in MKIV Armour, but when Burning of Prospero hit, I changed my mind and they ended up in MKIII Armour. I used one half of the sprue for an Ultramarines Heavy Support Squad armed with Ryza Pattern Lascannons, and the rest of the sprue has been sitting in my studio since then.

The penultimate unit was actually Lorgar, a model I have been so afraid of painting, but when I got round to it, wasn’t all that bad, helped by the relative simplicity of his design. I decided to go with red in him so he matched the rest of the army, I did have some issues with his Crozius and was forced to get a replacement part from Forgeworld, but once that was sorted it all went swimmingly.

So that’s it’s for now with regards to the Word Bearers, and here is a photo of the army altogether.

I now have as follows:-

Veteran Tactical Squad with two Missile Launchers and a Powerfist with a Rhino
Veteran Tactical Squad with two Heavy Bolters and a Lightning Claw with a Rhino
Tactical Support Squad with Plasma Guns with a Rhino
Heavy Support Squad with Missile Launchers
Heavy Support Squad with Volkite Culverins
Spartan
Cataphractii Terminator Squad with Reaper Autocannon, Chainfist and Power Maul
Tartaros Terminator Squad with Heavy Flamer, Chainfist, Volkite Charger and Power Axe
Tartaros Terminator Squad with Plasma Blaster and Chainfist
Tartaros Terminator Squad with Reaper Autocannon, Volkite Charger, Power Sword and Chainfist.
Mastodon
Xiphon
Contemptor Dreadnought with two Twin Linked Volkite Culverins
Contemptor Dreadnought with Kheres Assault Cannon
Contemptor Mortis Dreadnought with two Kheres Assault Cannons and Havoc Launcher
Deredeo Dreadnought with Hellfire Plasma Cannonade and Aiolos Missile Launcher
Mhara Gahl
Gal Vorbak
The Ashen Circle
Praetor Tribune
Centurion with Early Crusade Honours
Praetor with Thunderhammer and Combi-Volkite
Praetor with Chainfist and Combi-Melta
Chaplain with Plasma Pistol and Jump Pack
Chaplain with Plasma Pistol
Primus Medicae
Librarian
Company Champion
Lorgar

That makes for 5893pts of Word Bearers depending on upgrades. It’s a nice sized army and one which has gone relatively to plan with only three additions to the original plan, those being the Primus Medicae, the Xiphon Pattern Interceptor and the Deredeo.

Probably going to keep the army like this for now, it works as a Pride of the Legion list and now I suppose as a Primarchs Chosen as well quite nicely.

I have a couple of Medusas that I am thinking of giving to them, but I am unsure about that one to be honest, it’s either that or I sell them, my Ultramarines already have a full compliment of Medusas.

In the future I was considering giving them a Typhon, and a Seeker Squad with a Rhino, but that’s as far as I have got when making future plans for them.

They do also have available to them three Tarantulas with Twin-Linked Lascannons which have been painted up in a neutral scheme, and have up until now only been deployed with my Ultramarines. I also was considering a Lightning, which would also be done in a neutral scheme that would allow me to take it with any of my Imperial Armies.

What I am Modelling

In addition to the two Word Bearers units, I painted up a Death Guard Hellbrute.

Since I picked up Dark Imperium I knew I wanted a Hellbrute for the Death Guard and so I picked one up, I built it with a Twin Lascannon and a Power Scourge, giving it some good anti-armour which the Death Guard I have are lacking and the extra attacks form the Power Scourge are always welcome, although I will miss the D6 hits from the Powerfists flamer.

Anyway this took a while to do thanks to my sore back but now it’s done I am quite happy with it.

Now that my Word Bearers are complete I am moving into other projects, starting with Blood Angels. Now I have completed a few units for them here and there, a Tactical Squad, Terminator Librarian, Scout Squad and a Death Company Dreadnought, but now me and Megan are going to concentrate on these mostly now and get them done.

Tonight we put the base red on the next Tactical Squad and washed them, and the next step will b to tidy them up and highlight the armour.

What I am Reading

I have read very little, but I did finish listening to Master of Mankind, which was shorter than I remembered it being, it reached its conclusion a lot quicker than I had anticipated. But it’s a very well written book and most enjoyable.

What I am Playing

Last Tuesday at the Raiders I played a 2000pt game of 8th Edition Warhammer 40,000 against Tyranids which included a Scythed Hierodule. I took Chaos which included a Spartan, Deredeo and a Xiphon and it was a brutal game. I managed to take out the Hierodule early one using the 12 Lascannons I had on the field and that was quite satisfying.

I took a lot of damage midgame and struggled to deal with some units like Genestealers and the Malanthrope made it quite difficult for me to take out his Hive Tyrant.

But at the end of the game I was victorious on cards, my MVP of the game was hard to pick out, but I think it was the Spartan, the 8 Lascannons really pack quite a punch, and it’s given me some lessons on what I need for my Tyranids, an Exocrine will get added to my to buy list I think.

Then today we played some games as Lindsay is having a week off work, we finally got round to replaying January in Pandemic Legacy and we won, we even eradicated two diseases.

We followed that up by playing two games of Chemistry Fluxx.

What I am Backing

Currently got noting I am backing, but I am looking at a couple of projects so watch this space.

What I am Spending

So little, I have bought only a pot of paint this week, so it’s going quite well really!

Mood: Sore
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: 5
In My Ears: Odds Are by Barenaked Ladies
Game Last Played: Pandemic Legacy Season 1
Book Last Read: The Crimson King by Graham McNeil
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Bones
Current State of Projects: Blood Angels Tactical Squad basecoated and washed.

The Mastodon is Done

By michael

On 24th June 2017

In Blog

It’s taken a week and a half of work but it’s done.

Putting it together was a ball ache, it might be designed in CAD, but putting the structure of it together was not as smooth as I had hoped, in fact it was down right awkward. Fitting the panels flush, didn’t allow for the doors to close properly, and it wouldn’t stay together in a stable way until I glued in the roof and command module.

The transfers took a bit of time to do, simply because I wanted to do so many, but then again something like that is gonna have a lot of runes and writings on it. Certainly worth taking the time to put them all on.

The door are magnetised, at first I considered not doing it but after tiring together the structure, it was clear that the doors would just flap open all the time, so I went ahead and put in the magnets.

Can’t wait to get this on the tabletop, will need a minimum of 3000pts in Heresy for the 25% rule, but I can field it in a 2000pts list in 40k which is cool, although I am not sure if this would be considered a dick move!

So here are the lists for it that I am considering.

Heresy 3000pts

+ HQ +

Legion Centurion: Artificer Armour, Chainsword or Combat Blade, Jump Pack, Plasma Pistol . . Consul: Chaplain

Legion Praetor: Burning Lore, Cataphractii Terminator Armour, Chainfist, Combi-Weapon, Digital Lasers

+ Elites +

Contemptor-Cortus Class Dreadnought Talon . . Cortus Dreadnought: Twin-linked Volkite culverin, Twin-linked Volkite culverin

Gal Vorbak Dark Brethren: 4x Dark Brethren . . Dark Martyr: Artificer Armour, Power Fist

+ Troops +

Legion Terminator Squad: Cataphractii Terminator Armour . . Legion Terminator Sergeant: Combi-Bolter, Grenade Harness . . . . Power Weapon: Power Maul

. . Legion Terminators: Combi-Bolter, Power Fist, Reaper Autocannon

. . Legion Terminators: Combi-Bolter, Power Fist

. . Legion Terminators: Chainfist, Combi-Bolter

Legion Terminator Squad: Tartaros Terminator Armour . . Legion Terminator Sergeant: Grenade Harness, Volkite Charger . . . . Power Weapon: Power Sword

. . Legion Terminators: Combi-Bolter, Power Fist, Reaper Autocannon

. . Legion Terminators: Combi-Bolter, Power Fist

. . Legion Terminators: Chainfist, Combi-Bolter

Legion Terminator Squad: Tartaros Terminator Armour . . Legion Terminator Sergeant: Combi-Bolter, Grenade Harness, Power Fist

. . Legion Terminators: Combi-Bolter, Plasma Blaster, Power Fist

. . Legion Terminators: Combi-Bolter, Power Fist

. . Legion Terminators: Chainfist, Combi-Bolter

Legion Terminator Squad: Tartaros Terminator Armour . . Legion Terminator Sergeant: Grenade Harness, Volkite Charger . . . . Power Weapon: Power Axe

. . Legion Terminators: Combi-Bolter, Heavy Flamer, Power Fist

. . Legion Terminators: Combi-Bolter, Power Fist

. . Legion Terminators: Chainfist, Combi-Bolter

+ Heavy Support +

Deredeo Pattern Dreadnought: Aiolos Missile Launcher, Single twin-linked Hellfire Plasma Cannonade, Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter

Legion Spartan Assault Tank: Armoured Ceramite, Dozer Blade, Flare Shield, Quad Lascannon Sponsons, Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter

+ Allegiance +

Rite of War: Pride of the Legion

+ Lords of War +

Legion Mastadon Heavy Assault Transport: 4x Hunter-killer Missiles

40k 2000pts

++ Vanguard Detachment +1CP (Chaos – Chaos Space Marines) ++

+ HQ +

Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour: Chainfist, Combi-melta

Sorcerer in Terminator Armour: Force sword, Lightning claw

+ Elites +

Chaos Terminators: No Chaos Mark

. . Chaos Terminator: Chainfist, Combi-bolter

. . Chaos Terminator: Power fist, Reaper autocannon