How long has it been since we got a Song of Ice and Fire book, and will George R. R. Martin complete the series in his lifetime, and will it wipe out the disappointment of the last season of Game of Thrones!
That is exactly what Paul & Storm are asking here
Its been a couple of years since our good friend Aurelio Voltaire was featured and still, he is hard to classify, he really does transcend genres!
Oh and Paul likes him after I introduced him!
STUPIDLY FORGOT TO HIT THE PUBLISH BUTTON SO THIS IS A DAY LATE
Flight of the Conchords, formally New Zealand’s fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo, somehow have managed to not be featured here before, and I am rectifying this today!
This song Robots imagines a future in which all the humans are dead and the robots have taken over the world, and well with the development of AI, this might really happen sooner rather than later!
I grew up in the UK so Nintendo wasn’t really a big thing for us other than the Game Boy, the first Nintendo I personally owned was a Nintendo 64 for Goldeneye!
So my first exposure to Zelda was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which I did enjoy, but I didn’t have the same attachment to it as people who grew up with the series.
But the series has grown on me with subsequent releases, though I still have Breath of the Wild on my to play list.
So this song doesn’t quite hit all the nostalgia bits for me, but its still fun to listen to!
This duo is best known for Pac-Man Fever, both the song and album, which were possible the first video game songs to really go mainstream back before I was even born!
This song was written and recorded for the amazing Disney film Wreak It Ralph which was such a joy to watch with all of its amazing video game references.
The overall soundtrack from the film is utterly amazing, Henry Jackman really captures the Chiptune lighting in a bottle.
If you have never seen Wreak It Ralph, I urge you to go do so now, drop everything you won’t regret it!
We lost our beloved Smokie, he was only with us three months, but that little spicy bean made quite the impression on us.
After Fireworks Night, the stress of all the noises triggered herpes, which 80% of all cats have, it normally lies dormant unless they get very ill or feel a lot of stress.
Unfortunately what we learned was that he suffered from a nasty auto immune disorder which meant that to deal with the herpes, his white blood cells were attacking his entire body.
It quickly destroyed his eyes, leaving him blind and then decimated his red blood cell count. The vets tried their hardest to save him, we cannot fault him.
We had intended to visit my mum the weekend he died, but we decided to stay with him, and I glad we did, he had a nice last day, lots of cuddles, he ate tuna from my stottie, pretty much half of it, and then after a nice meal and some milk, he sat down and, well he let us know it was time.
We drove him round and they agreed that despite all the medication and treatment, there was noting else they could do and the best decision was to let him go.
It was very peaceful, but as you can guess, it was also very painful, the little dude was such a beautiful and wilful boy and he was really starting to come round to us.
We are going to miss him very much and I won’t lie, its left us all feeling pretty crap.
A few other things happened over the weeks, but I am gonna expand on them later on, I mangled to get a racing wheel for my PC/Xbox which was cool but for the most part its been pretty quiet, we have all just been very sad
I did get my BoardGameGeek Secret Santa delivered, which was the wonderful San Juan, a secondhand copy but that’s cool, Wingspan European Expansion and Ticket to Ride France/Old West.
The Battleground show in Middlesbrough last weekend was great, they hosted us playing a big game of Horus Heresy with many many points aside, the Loyalists had four of my Knights and my Warhound Titan, the Traitors had a fair few Super Heavy tanks and a few knights too
I started off with a pair of Domicile Shells from Stormbringer, these are going to be sorted out in the next few weeks with my current AoS terrain to give me two boxes of terrain, one for the Friday Night Wargames club, and one for my house
After that I turned my attention to an Assault Squad for my Heresy Ultramarines
And an Invictor Tactical Warsuit for their Space Wolves to complete their Combat Patrol
I took a bit of time to finish some more bits, starting with this printed Death Guard Dreadnought, that I am going to be using as a Helbrute
And Gamers@Hart asked me to paint their Death Guard Kill Team for the store demo set
And finally I painted some Solar Auxilia tanks that I printed for Legions Imperialis!
After that I painted this pair of Carnodons armed with all Volkite for my Solar Auxilia army, getting close to having everything for Heresy Camp done, vehicle wise.
I am going to print a third one of these next year for the overall army
Then I painted the Infernus Sgt from Combat Patrol up for the Ultramarines
Followed by a Tyranid Prime with Wings from the magazine as well
And for the whole Christmas thing that’s coming up, a TARDIS tree ornament that I printed up
After that, some more mini tanks, this time the standard Battlecannon armed Leman Russ tanks for the Legions Imperialis Solar Auxilia
I also had to do a repair job on this Iron Warriors breacher, in the studio refurb he managed to lose his Bolter and Backpack, so I printed off replacements for him, think I need to do more with this army at some point
And finally these Von Ryan’s Leapers to complete the Insidious Infectors Combat Patrol
Whats coming up next then?
Had a game of Heresy on Friday against Dave down at the Friday Night Wargames club.
Played with my Imperial Fists with some allied Solar Auxiilia against his Word Bearers and it was a close game, came down to the last turn in which if I had killed just three more tactical marines I would have won by 2VP, but alas I lost by 1VP.
I also played a game against Graham at Durham Raiders, and well hell froze over and I beat him 11-8, to be fair my list was a bit tasty and the destruction of his Kytan took out a whole unit of Ursurax, which helped me no end!
Some more Space Marine 2 Operations were played this week
And I started a playthrough of Assassin’s Creed: Unity
We published the latest episode of Edge of Empire
I have joined a group buy for the Trench Crusade Kickstarter, the models look rad, and we are backing at the +HERESIARCH+ pledge level!
I bought the latest edition of Combat Patrol for a Terminator Librarian to join the Dark Angels.
And due to the issues with Smokey, and the need to pay his vet bills, I am no longer going to upgrade my PC to AM5, and instead have returned the B650 board and will be ordering a 5700X3D once the refund comes through, but in the meantime, I have bought some Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut in preparation.
And whilst the refund took ages to come through, I did eventually get my 5700X3D which is now nicely fitted to my PC and its really nice in gaming!
I also got issues 12 and 13 to add a squad of Deathwing Terminators to the Dark Angels
No need for any more issues until Issue 20 when I plan to get hopefully a couple of the Chaplain on a Bike, one for the Dark Angels and one for the Blood Angels.
It was Humble Choice week, and this month it bagged me
And I also got in a mystery bundle, Dread X Collection.
Since I moved to Hartlepool, my options to buy paints have changed a lot.
In Chester-le-Street I was able to get to a ton of shops that carried the entire Citadel paint range, so it made sense to just continue using that range because if I ran out, I could nip into town, hit Boyes, the North East Model Centre or Warhammer to grab whatever colour I needed.
But in Hartlepool, well these are not really an option, I love my FLGS, Games-At-Hart, but they haven’t got the space to stock the full Citadel paint range, and the Middlesbrough store also doesn’t store the full range either.
So regardless of anything, I have to order some paints in, so I figured, why not try some other ranges, and since I renovated the studio and changed the paint storage, I have less room for Citadel pots.
The two main ranges I have been trying are The Army Painter Fanatic and Two Thin Coats.
It’s been a few months and I think my feelings have solidified on the new paints, and I have a real preference for The Army Painter Fanatic range.
It’s highly pigmented, smooth and just flows so nicely off the palette, it’s simply some of the best paints I have ever used. The older War Paints range, was to be frank some of the worst paints on the market, watery, poorly pigmented and just not enjoyable to paint with.
The Fanatic range is a total 360, the have done from making the paints I dislike using the most, to the paints that I prefer over all others.
I also tried a Speedpaint, and I am not entirely as happy with these, the 2.0 range has resolved the serious reactivation issues, but the way it flows is just not my favourite, and I actually prefer my washes and Speedpaints/Contrasts in a pot, I find them easier to manage that way.
I want to try the metallic Speedpaints, so I plan to order one at some point in the next couple of months to try it out.
Two Thin Coats are nice, I have mostly used them for metallics, but these whilst actually they are significantly more expensive for smaller pots.
But the range has a bunch of colours that simply aren’t covered by The Army Painter, so I can see Spartan Bronze being a permanent part of my supplies.
The one area where I have found The Army Painter lacking is their reds, I will be honest, they are lacking significant colours that other ranges have, and they lack vibrancy, so I am probably sticking with Citadel for these for now.
The Effects Paints I have tried have been fantastic, the two blood paints are just top tier, Dry Blood has particles in it, to replicate the effect of congealed blood, and the two rust paints are great together, but I have found that when combining with Ryza Rust and Typhus Corrosion, you can cover all kinds of rusty effects.
I have also got a couple of samples of TT Combat paints, but the colours I have, Supernova Chrome and Tech Ceramic, I haven’t had much opportunity to try out.
So yeah, a lot of the paints I use frequently are moving over to Fanatic, with some Two Thin Coats, but Citadel is strill going to be a large part of the collection as there are colour they do, that I simply prefer, especially the Shades and Contrasts.
I am have started the process of getting mine, Lindsay’s and Megan’s music collection moved over to the media server in a more organised and ordered way, starting with some of the better albums we have, kind of the top 150 is being transferred right now.
I am taking the opportunity to get the files properly ordered and named properly and where needed, sorting out better quality files, because the digital collection we have, is very very old dating back to 1998 in some cases, and never really changed since the days it was ripped.
Its going to take a while to transfer it over, and I think I might need to replace the music drive, which is currently 1TB, so keeping an eye out for a decently priced larger one.
The most recent ten albums transfers were:-
Currently I am transferring over the Oasis discography because it was all in one random folder and easy to fix due to all being ripped at once.
Started off with a Dankhold Troggoth for the Gloomspite Gitz, a nice lovely big model that acted as a nice pallet cleanser after all those Ultramarines
Then it was the Intercessors from the Space Wolves Combat Patrol
Followed by a Despoiler Squad of the Imperial Fists for the Horus Heresy, these were 3D printed a few months ago
And a Librarian to join them as well, again this was 3D printed
So what’s up next?
This week I have been rather unwell with a nasty tummy bug that has really triggered my IBS and I have struggled to read, so not picked up the Kindle.
I did however finish Hand of Abaddon by Nick Kyme, which thankfully actually moved on the plot a bit more than recent books in the series have done, and the Kharadron were really cool in their Black Library debut.
I then listened to The Last by Gary Hopkins, and to be honest, it was a bit of a mess and I am not sure what the plan was here, it was dark, bleak and depressing, but it didn’t hold my attention.
There was a good concept in it, but that was basically ignored in favour of a more metaphysical storyline.
On Monday, myself, Chris and Graham played some Hell Let Loose which Chris streamed.
And I went back to some Space Marine 2 operations
I published a Combat Patrol Battle Report, this time between the Adeptus Custodes and the Chaos Space Marines
Got the last Leman Russ I need for my allied Solar Auxilia to take to Heresy Camp next year!
Got a couple of games too
This week myself and Lindsay were due to visit Suffolk via Nottingham to see my family, cause there is stuff going on down there.
Alas Lindsay came home from Oxford the previous weekend with a horrendous chest infection and sadly as a result, we couldn’t risk the journey, cause there is a vulnerable person there that we couldn’t risk passing it on to.
She ended up ill for 9 days and has only just gone back to work today, anyway, it is what it is, and we plan to go down in a fortnight.
I was going to initially paint some Space Wolves Intercessors, but my Russ Grey was dry as the Arabian dessert!
So I started on some Ultramarines beginning with a Squad of Aggressors, this time with Boltstorm Gauntlets
Followed by a 3D printed Liutenant Titus, cause annoyingly I cannot get the plastic one from Games Workshop, everytime its restocked in the store, I can’t get to them in time. So yeah ended up printing this one!
Then I painted the Gravis Captain from Dark Imperium
The a couple of limited edition Primaris captains, with this Captain with Power Sword and Plasma Pistol an exclusive model from Imperium
Then a Store Birthday (I Think) Captain with Power Fist and Plasma Pistol
And because he was awesome in Space Marine 2, I painted this Captain in Phobos Armour as Captain Acheran of the 2nd Company
Then a couple of Captains from the standard Primaris Captain kit, starting with a Captain with an Auto Bolt Rifle and Power Sword
And a Captain with Stalker Bolt Rifle
Captain with Relic Shield of the 1st Company
Captain Agemman of the 1st Company
So whats next on the plan?
Not quite finished Hand of Abaddon by Nick Kyme, and still making my way through the Guns of Tanith in The Saint by Dan Abnett.
Not much, struggled on with some operations in Space Marine 2, and played a bit more of Avengers but that’s about it.
Added a few games to the collection, from the Atari Recharged Retro Revival Humble Bundle I got:-
I also added these to the collection:-
Since the pandemic I have noticed that in the middle of the year, I seem to keep have a slump, just all my plans, motivation and drive drops off come the heat of the summer.
I dunno what it is, this year was no different, other than a nice bump for WorldCon, I have lost all my vroom, and I don’t know why.
In the day it feels like time just gets away from me and I don’t have the capacity to fit things in, perhaps it not having a proper schedule or just never quite recovering from Covid, I just don’t have a clue.
I know Lindsay’s moving anger workspace into the studio and then out again did really throw me and screw up my flow, but given that this has been happening for the past four years, I can’t blame that.
I know that there are things I wanna do with life, I am just bad at figuring them out and sorting out what I am doing with my time and life.
Maybe now that the house is settled into its shape for what I hope is a bit more long term I can kinda sort that out.
My plan is to sit down and hopefully convince Megan and Lindsay to help me sort out some sort of reasonable schedule to help get me back on track.
Started out with a couple of Leman Russ Vanquishers for the Solar Auxilia, these are going to be getting a lot of use at Heresy Camp in May, but I do need a 3rd one
Then I painted a couple of Squig Herds and their Hearders
Followed by a few additions to the Deathwing, starting with a Company Master from Combat Patrol
And a squad of Deathwing Terminators, the majority here were 3D printed but the Cyclone Missile Launcher is from the old plastic kit
Alongside a couple of Dreadnoughts, a Redemptor of the Deathwing
And a Ballistus Dreadnought that I 3D printed, joining the 5th Company
Finally for the Dark Angels, a 3D printed Judicator
And I also painted a random Infection Marker I found on the floor
So yeah 3D printing is starting to really reap some rewards with me being able to print some fantastic models that I am really happy with.
But I am very wary because at the same time, I don’t want to be the guy that prints everything, I like the models that companies make.
But damn the process of pouring the resin in the vat, sending the file from your PC to the printer, and seeing these amazing models come out, it’s kind of addictive!
So what’s next?
Still making my way through The Saint by Dan Abnett, and Hand of Abaddon by Nick Kyme.
I finally finished Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun on Exterminatus mode, and collected all the secrets, 100% all the original games achievements!
Alas, I do have Forges of Corruption to complete still, so will stream that next week.
Also started playing the Operations on Stream for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.
Also been playing Stampede Racing Royale, a game that Graham helped develop!
I have been saving for a platform upgrade for my PC and in the Prime sale, bought myself this nice little B650 board to allow me to go to an AM5 processor
Also bought a few games.
It was my birthday on Saturday, my 42nd, we had originally planned something grand because my 40th was a disaster, but sadly due to various personal things happening we had to make it much more well, not a lot at all.
We had a lovely breakfast of stottie filled with Lincolnshire sausages and mushrooms, and I opened my cards and a present from Megan and Lindsay, which was a Dieselpunk RPG called Age of Steel!
We headed up to my home city of Newcastle, and I headed straight to Forbidden Planet in the hope of getting a copy of Combat Patrol Issue 5.
Thankfully Forbidden Planet had a copy, so grabbed that, so I can add an Infernus Sgt to my Blood Ravens!
After this we headed to Middlesbrough, where we had a Wendy’s for lunch, followed by a visit to the Renault dealership, where we checked out the Megane, which is currently the favourite to be out next car come March.
Then we headed home, where I had a little nap!
At 5pm we went and picked up a cat, Cassius
We hadn’t planned on adopting a new cat, but we had a bunch of spare rescue food we had bought for Jenny, and when we dropped it off at the rescue, well, Cassius convinced us he should come home with us.
So after a short couple of weeks whilst he had his vaccines, we were able to pick him up, and bring him home. He is a one eyed boy, having lost it in a fight when he was on the streets.
He is a beautiful boy, and really has made himself right at home, sleeping in the bed with us on night one!
Hopefully this cat will actually like me, unlike the other three who barely tolerate me!
I played in Leon’s first monthly 40K tournament on Sunday, and I took my Ultramarines for their first ever games with this list!
Space Marines
Ultramarines
Gladius Task Force
Strike Force (2000 Points)
CHARACTERS
Bladeguard Ancient (45 Points)
• 1x Close combat weapon
• 1x Heavy bolt pistol
Chaplain (60 Points)
• 1x Absolvor bolt pistol
• 1x Crozius arcanum
Lieutenant (65 Points)
• 1x Bolt Pistol
• 1x Close combat weapon
• 1x Master-crafted bolter
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon (70 Points)
• 1x Combi-weapon
• 1x Paired combat blades
Uriel Ventris (75 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Bolt Pistol
• 1x Invictus
• 1x Sword of Idaeus
BATTLELINE
Assault Intercessor Squad (75 Points)
• 1x Assault Intercessor Sergeant
◦ 1x Astartes chainsword
◦ 1x Plasma Pistol
• 4x Assault Intercessor
◦ 4x Astartes chainsword
◦ 4x Heavy bolt pistol
Intercessor Squad (80 Points)
• 1x Intercessor Sergeant
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Bolt rifle
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
• 4x Intercessor
◦ 4x Bolt pistol
◦ 4x Bolt rifle
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
Intercessor Squad (80 Points)
• 1x Intercessor Sergeant
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Bolt rifle
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
• 4x Intercessor
◦ 4x Bolt pistol
◦ 4x Bolt rifle
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
Intercessor Squad (80 Points)
• 1x Intercessor Sergeant
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Bolt rifle
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
• 4x Intercessor
◦ 4x Bolt pistol
◦ 4x Bolt rifle
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
OTHER DATASHEETS
Aggressor Squad (120 Points)
• 1x Aggressor Sergeant
◦ 1x Flamestorm gauntlets
◦ 1x Twin power fists
• 2x Aggressor
◦ 2x Flamestorm gauntlets
◦ 2x Twin power fists
Ballistus Dreadnought (140 Points)
• 1x Armoured feet
• 1x Ballistus lascannon
• 1x Ballistus missile launcher
• 1x Twin storm bolter
Bladeguard Veteran Squad (90 Points)
• 1x Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant
◦ 1x Heavy bolt pistol
◦ 1x Master-crafted power weapon
• 2x Bladeguard Veteran
◦ 2x Heavy bolt pistol
◦ 2x Master-crafted power weapon
Eliminator Squad (85 Points)
• 1x Eliminator Sergeant
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Bolt sniper rifle
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
• 2x Eliminator
◦ 2x Bolt pistol
◦ 2x Bolt sniper rifle
◦ 2x Close combat weapon
Firestrike Servo-turrets (75 Points)
• 1x Close combat weapon
• 1x Twin Firestrike autocannon
Firestrike Servo-turrets (75 Points)
• 1x Close combat weapon
• 1x Twin Firestrike las-talon
Inceptor Squad (130 Points)
• 1x Inceptor Sergeant
◦ 1x Assault bolters
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
• 2x Inceptor
◦ 2x Assault bolters
◦ 2x Close combat weapon
Infernus Squad (80 Points)
• 1x Infernus Sergeant
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Pyreblaster
• 4x Infernus Marine
◦ 4x Bolt pistol
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
◦ 4x Pyreblaster
Infiltrator Squad (100 Points)
• 1x Infiltrator Sergeant
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Marksman bolt carbine
• 4x Infiltrator
◦ 4x Bolt pistol
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
◦ 4x Marksman bolt carbine
Invader ATV (70 Points)
• 1x Bolt pistol
• 1x Close combat weapon
• 1x Multi-melta
• 1x Twin bolt rifle
Redemptor Dreadnought (210 Points)
• 1x Heavy flamer
• 1x Heavy onslaught gatling cannon
• 1x Redemptor fist
• 1x Twin fragstorm grenade launcher
Repulsor (180 Points)
• 1x Armoured hull
• 1x Heavy onslaught gatling cannon
• 1x Hunter-slayer missile
• 1x Repulsor defensive array
• 1x Twin lascannon
My first game was against Luke and his Leagues of Votann, which is an army I really fancy collecting someday
The game went very badly for me, and by the end of turn 2 I had very little left on the table and had killed very little!
We made it to turn 4 but I was basically wiped out, and lost 66 to 23
For my second game I played with Matthew and his Adeptus Mechanicus, which was a very enjoyable game in which I wasn’t totally humiliated
I mean I still lost but in the game it didn’t feel too bad
And in the third and final game I played against Adam and his Tyranids, which was a much more even game, with me actually scoring stuff
Still lost but it was fun
I won myself the wooden spoon, sadly no actual physical one, but it was a great day
And it’s being run monthly, so paying for my ticket for next one when I get paid!
I started the week with a Guardian Idol for my Age of Sigmar terrain box
And followed that up with a Warchanter
And Ironskullz Boyz from Warhammer Underworlds
After that I painted a pair of Invader ATVs for the Dark Angels, the first additions to the Ravenwing, starting with one armed with a Multi-Melta
Followed by one armed with an Onslaught Gatling Cannon
Then I turned back to the Ironjawz with a unit of Arrboyz for the Ironsunz
And a Treelord Ancient for the Sylvaneth
I also painted a pair of Sgts for my Heresy Ultramarines that I need for Heresy Camp
Plus the Combat Patrol issue 5 Infernus Marine Sgt for the Blood Ravens
So what’s up next?
I finished listening to Reaper Man by Sir Terry Pratchett which is a great story, and the new recording is fantastic.
I also listened to Faith Stealer by Graham Duff to get back on track with my Doctor Who Monthly Range relisten.
I am currently listening to the latest Dawn of Fire novel, Hand of Abaddon by Nick Kyme.
And I am still working on The Saint by Dan Abnett, I finished Honour Guard and am now on to The Guns of Tanith.
Finished playing through Space Marine 2 on stream and that is being a lot of fun!
Myself Graham and Chris have started our Co-Op playthrough, which will be uploaded to the Edge of Empire YouTube channel.
I published the latest episode of Edge of Empire
And the latest Combat Patrol Battle Report
Got the Reliquary Red spray paint can from The Colour Forge Signature Series Kickstarter, which is gonna be perfect for my Blood Ravens
It’s Humble Choice week, so with that I got
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