Author: michael Page 3 of 58

Nerdy Musical Advent 2023 – 6th December – Sensitive Badass – The Doubleclicks

The Doubleclicks are frequent features on the Advent, probably cause I really, really like their music.

This one, well its not my favourite, but it is Lindsay’s, the first time she heard it, at the 77th WorldCon, Dublin 2o19, she cried her eyes out and then played it again and again for months (she still insists that she isn’t an autist).

And well, I have been meaning to include it, but it always got displaced by something else, but this time, I am sticking to my guns and its staying put here!



Nerdy Musical Advent 2023 – 5th December – Pac-Man Fever – Buckner & Garcia

This one is older than me, and really captures the very early days of video gaming when Pac-Man swept the world!

And lets face it Pac-Man is a fantastic game that has stood the test of time and its no wonder that Buckner & Garcia scored a hit with this one in 1981!

Interestingly they pioneered rerecording an album when the masters ownership was denied to them, and they rerecorded the whole Pac-Man Fever album (yes there is an album, and its worth a listen/download)


Nerdy Musical Advent 2023 – 4th December – Over The Hills and Far Away – John Tams

As a nerd who loves war games, and approaching a more mature age, there is a part of me that’s getting very interested in Napoleonic’s, probably doesn’t help that I recently rewatched Sharpe!

So here is a traditional British song, that was featured heavily in Sharpe, performed by folk singer John Tams, who also starred as Hagman in the series.

It also featured in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which is also an excellent version of the song, which I am sharing because the John Tams version is sadly hard to find for online listening.



Nerdy Musical Advent 2023 – 3rd December – IKEA – Jonathan Coulton

Good old Jonathan Coulton is a regular feature of the nerdy advent, and this year is no different.

This time we bring you IKEA, a song about many peoples favourite furniture store, and its certainly one of mine, I mean, not only is the stuff great, my studio is a lot of IKEA stuff.

But also meatballs and hot dogs too!



Nerdy Musical Advent 2023 – 2nd December – Nrrrd Grrrl – MC Chris

Its been a long long while since we featured MC Chris, so lets rectify that now, with Nrrrd Grrrl

A great Nerdcore rap about a lot of girls we know, and none of us deserve, reminds me of both Megan and Lindsay.



Nerdy Musical Advent 2023 – 1st December – Save World, Get Girl – I Fight Dragons

OK I am a day late, I have had a shitty year in terms of keeping up with the things I am supposed to do, and sadly this suffered as a result with poor planning, even though I knew it was coming up!

Anyway, this one is a classic from the Nintendocore (a subgenre of chiptune) band, I Fight Dragons who make music using the electronic sounds of Game Boys and NES consoles.

This is a great song for which the video was released in 3D form for the 3DS, and looked great, but well that console is now dead, so if you want to see it how it was intended, you have to find, other means!

Oh and its set this year, which is why it was delayed until now.

But is still a great listen!



A Couple of Home Improvements

Not much this week, but I have made a couple of changes to the house to make it more comfortable and easier to use.

The first, was to add a SKÅDIS pegboard, just like in the studio to the wall, to hold knives, and a few other bits and bobs using some bits that I had previously used on my studio board.

And Megan and Lindsay want more “display” space, so had me get the Soundbar mounted under the telly to free up the space on the TV unit for it.

What I Am Modelling

I started out with the Chaos Familiars from Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower

After which I painted a Vargulf Courtier for the Flesh Eater Courts

Then a Baal Predator for mine and Megans Blood Angels

Then made a start to the Gloomspite Gitz with a Loonboss

And Zarbag’s Gitz


So whats on the plan for next week?

  1. Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10
  2. Battle Sisters x 10
  3. Lilth Hesperax
  4. Ork Trukks x 2
  5. Putrid Blightkings x 5
  6. Shootas x 20
  7. Minka Lesk x 2
  8. Blood Ravens Sterngaurd Veterans x 5
  9. Imperial Fists Whirlwind Scorpius
  10. Hobgrot Slittaz x 10

What I Am Reading

I finished listening to The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath, which was a pretty good listen, and I hope they finish the story of the Gathering Storm and give us a novel of the Fracture of Biel-Tan and the Rise of the Primarch because they are so far poorly explored.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I haven’t, but I did receive my BoardGameGeek Secret Santa, which is Root!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I played through The Tyranny of King Washington, the DLC for Assassin’s Creed III

And I started on Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD too!

What I Am Creating

I got the latest episode of Edge of Empire puiblished!

What I Am Spending

I bought myself a couple cheap games in the Black Friday sales, I got Prey, Yakuza 5 & Yakuza 6, Catherine Classic, Doom 2, Doom 3, Two Point Hospital and A Memoir Blue.

Due to the insulation work, we had to swap out a bookcase we had when we moved for a narrower one, so we went to IKEA and picked up a narrow Billy to store some of our board games.

I also got a couple of issues of Stormbringer part 40 for the Treelords!

And I got the second issue as well!


A Little Bit More in the Studio

The past couple of weeks have been a bit boring, but I did do a touch more work to improve the studio

First up I bought the last bits for my controller board, and fitted them leaving me with this as the final result!

Really happy with how this turned out, and it looks super cool.

What we have on it, are:-

Playstation Controller (USB)DualShock 3NES ControllerSNES Controller
Tribute 64Gamecube ControllerGamecube Wavebird
Mega Drive Controller (USB)Mega Drive 6 Button Controller (USB)Saturn Controller Model 2 (USB)8BitDo SN30 ProHyperkin Duke
PC Engine Turbo Pad (USB)A500 ControllerUSB-C CableMicro USB Cable8BitDo Neo Geo CD ControllerShelf with some adaptors
Hyperkin XenonDualSenseSwitch ProXbox Series XAmazon Echo Dot
Google StadiaAmazon LunaSteam ControllerNVIDIA Shield

So yeah really happy with how its turned out, expensive but worth it!

And I also mounted the Xbox Series S under the desk, just to keep the desk top clearer, becuase it was in a funny situation with no where to be because the place it was, was no longer an option as the new monitor was in the way.

I imagine the next few weeks will be more of the same, just getting stuff better and more tidy, I still may wall mount the PS5 and/or Switch, but lets wait and see.

What I Am Modelling

I started by finishing some Chaplins for the Ultramarines, and a Judicar.

After that it was a Spartan for the Death Guard

Then a Rotor Cannon Support Squad for the Imperial Fists

Followed by 20 Termagants with Devourers

And finally a pair of bases of Rippers!


So whats up next for me?

  1. Chaos Familiars
  2. Loonboss & Zarbags Gitz
  3. Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10
  4. Battle Sister Squad x 10
  5. Baal Predator
  6. Lilth Hesperax 
  7. Ork Trukks x 2
  8. Putrid Blightkings x 5
  9. Shootas x 20
  10. Minka Lesk x 2

What I Am Reading

I listened to Bang-Bang-a-Boom! by Clayton Hickman and Gareth Roberts, which was

I have read with The End and The Death: Volume II by Dan Abnett, and that was a hell of a book is all I will say!

I have started listening to The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath and that’s pretty good so far, very surprised that they had yet to do this story!

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Got a game of Horus Heresy in at club on Friday myself and Russell started a campaign, and well I wiped the floor with him, but I did have 3250 points to his 2500 so it was an unfair match up!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I finished Assassin’s Creed III Remastered, which I have been streaming!

I also played through Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – The Lost Archive, which you can see here on YouTube.

We will be playing The Tyranny of King Washington next!

What I Am Creating

I made a little experimental video about the army list I took to Scotland at the beginning of October.

Also a little short on painting lights!

What I Am Spending

It was Humble Choice this week, so for my £8.99, I got the following

And I bought myself Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 3 Remastered as well.

I also picked up the Space Marines and Tyranids datacards for Warhammer 40k.

And a Vindicator to add to my Imperial Fists.


Some Minor Studio Upgrades

Following the insulation work I have made a few small changes to the studio, mostly cosmetic, but they do make it far more comfortable.

First up, I have moved my collection of badges to a set of banners that Megan made for me in the polycule sewing room.

Really happy with how these turned out, and they fill a bit of a hole in the room.

I also hung a Man Cave sign that Mary got me before she passed away, and it looks pretty nice.

And I took the fabric Avatar world map we got with the Avatar Legends Kickstarter, and put that into a frame and hung it on the staircase

I also ordered a 3D printed stand for my Echo Dot to hang on my pegboard, its been a bit of a chew on to get it, and when I eventually did two weeks after it should have come, it was in entirely the wrong colour!

Next steps are going to be something to store the hot chocolate pods in, and a couple more Ikea controller holders for the pegboard.

And of course I do need to do some painting still!

What I Am Modelling

I started off my finishing the Ork Boyz

Plus a Runtherd for some Grots

And then followed up that with a pair of Marshcrawlla Sloghoths

Then some more greenskins, this time in the shape of 10 Grots!

I finally painted the Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, good old Kyria Draxus!

And then a Sister Dialogues for my Sisters of Battle


So what’s up next?

  1. Imperial Fists Rotor Cannon Squad x 10
  2. Death Guard Spartan
  3. Termagants with Devourers x 20
  4. Chaos Familiar’s x 8
  5. Loonboss & Zatbags Gitz
  6. Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10
  7. Battle Sisters Squad x 10
  8. Baal Predator
  9. Lilith
  10. Trukks x 2

What I Am Reading

I read a few short stories to try and get me reading again, starting with The Long and Hungry Road by Adrian Tchaikovsky, then Devilhunter by Nicholas Wolf and finally Blood Harvest by Richard Swan.

I have now started on The End and The Death Volume II by Dan Abnett.

What Video Games I Am Playing

Continued to play some more Assassin’s Creed III Remastered, and I am getting to grips with the ways its different to the previous 3 games.

What I Am Creating

I published the latest episode of Edge of Empire!

What I Am Backing

My first project in a while, but I am backing the Car Wars Companion for Sixth Edition, cause, you know, Car Wars!

What I Am Spending

Not much, but I did buy The Ancestor’s Wrath, cause why not, new Votann models are gonna be cool!

We also upgrade our broadband, from 350mbps to 1130mbps, for only a few quid a month more!


A Big Bunch of Stuff

This is a big update, life has been a bit all over the place and its taken this long to sort out putting out a new blog post, sorry


My dad turned 60 earlier this month so we buggered off to Suffolk for a birthday meal, we were in the county for less than 24 hours which felt too brief as I was unable to get any quality time.

Would have liked to have spent more time with the nibblings, but it was nice nonetheless.

It was a Sunday dinner at the pub and I had lamb, cause I love lamb and so rarely get to have it.


I turned 41 as well, which was fine, but my birthday plans failed and it’s left me somewhat deflated.

I am on the verge of giving up any attempt at celebrating it from now.

I did get a pair of AirPod Pros for my birthday, mostly cause I needed the ANC


This weekend I went to Stirling for a Horus Heresy event runs by some friends of ours, an event with lots of Conpany of Legends DNA, which is really cool cause we never get to play in our own event!

That’s not me saying they ripped us off, we love that they have taken our concept and turned it into their own thing, it’s absolutely brilliant, although we did provide them with Chris’s scoring/pairing spreadsheet.

I am gonna put up a vide with my list next week.

It’s been a really fun event, my first game was against Matts Whit Scars, a beautiful army that I was able to really push and give it a hard time.

The game went rather well for me, I did lose in the end, but it largely came down to a mixture of great tactics by Matt, poor decision making on my part and of course rolling double 1s on Plasma Pistol Chainfire on my Moritat resulting in him dying in his first turn out of the Rhino!

The second game on Saturday was against Chris’s Custodes, and yeah at 3.5k points, Custodes really get to shine as they can take a lot of the nicer toys that 3k kind of stops them taking

I got hammered in this game, my list just struggled to handle the sheer amount of 2+ Armour

Wonderful guy as well and a beautifully painted army, makes me want to get my Custodes out the box!

On Sunday I faced Mark and his Ultramarines, in a very challenging game, for a good part of the game, I was dominant on one flank, distracting him with stuff on the other, but once he had taken care of those units, he quickly wiped out my whole army!

And my final game was against Michael and his Space Wolves, a great army with a Thunderhawk, my first time facing one of those bad boys!

I did okay, but eventually folded and was tabled, a mix of poor choices on my part and great tactics on Michaels.

A great weekend and the lads put on an amazing event, really good, absolutely loved my time there.

Insullationgate

Not my name, but it seems apt, on my return Stirling, we were having some insulation work done by the landlord, the contractors said, it was all external, but when they arrived, we were told its actually all internal!

So we had a chaotic week, with every room in the house being torn apart, and it ended my #HobbyStreak 🙁

It is what it is, but we are only just getting the place back together, and it still needs painting.


In other news, I am back into therapy and mental health treatment, I need it, and the waiting period was awful.

Initially my medication has been adjusted as they build an idea on how to help sort me out.

What I Am Modelling

I started off painting some Blood Angels but got bored partway though so got painted up my Questoris Knight Styrix for House Taranis

Then I finished the Phobos Lieutenant for the Blood Angels

Followed by the Suppressors

And the a squad of Infiltrators

After that a Ballistus Dreadnought for the Blood Ravens

As a result of the insulation, I found a DOOM box of abandoned Warhammer projects and decided to finish as many of them as I could, starting with a resin Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun, who mostly just needed a few bits and bobs finishing

Then it was a Praetor for the Death Guard armed with a Thunder Hammer!

Then I finished up some Marines that Chris gave me ages ago to supplement my Word Bearers who needed a couple of Marines per Squad to allow me to take them as Tactical Squads instead of Veteran Squads and allow me to build some non Pride of the Legion lists

And then some Tyranid Warriors that I originally got with Deathstorm, a very very long time ago!

And finally I painted a squad of Assault Terminators for my Ultramarines from the DOOM box


So what’s up next?

  1. Ork Boyz x 10 & Nob
  2. Marshcrawlla Sluggoth
  3. Sororitas Dialogus
  4. Imperial Fists Rotor Cannon Squad x 10
  5. Death Guard Spartan
  6. Termagants with Devourers x 20
  7. Grots x 10 & Runtherd
  8. Chaos Familiars
  9. Loonboss & Zarbags Gitz
  10. Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10

What I Am Reading

I finished The Prisoner of Tartarus bu Richard Lee Byers, so expect a review of that soonish!

I also read The Devouring Void by Danie Ware, which was ok, the twist was kind of sudden which didn’t work for me, but otherwise was good.

Audiobook wise, I listened to Blood of the Emperor, and The Sandman by Simon A Forward, and I am currently listening to The Church and the Crown by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I got a game of Sone Mortalis in with Paul at Durham Raiders

I did ok, my list is suboptimal, Paul’s is much better and he played really well, very smart choice made by him.

But it was a close run thing!

And we also had a game of Alhambra, on my birthday which I did not win, of course Megan did.

But it was close!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I have started on Assassin’s Creed III Remastered and been doing so on stream.

I also played and completed Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines, emulated using Retroarch, and I uploaded the playthrough to YouTube

Other than that, I finished Bayonetta.

And I am now playing through Spider-Man Remastered.

What I Am Creating

I did finally get round to making that Ork Skin video!

What I Am Spending

I bought this Neo Geo CD controller made by 8BitDo a month ago and it’s only just arrived, the best thing about, MICROSWITCHES!

So yeah 8BitDo got right what SNK couldn’t

I also had a couple of bits printed up for my controller board, some black hooks to hang cables and a shelf, to hold a few little bits.

I also finally bought a new monitor for the studio, I just really needed some more screen real-estate for editing Edge of Empire podcasts, cause the setup I had was a bit weird in composition.

Its a Cooler Master GA271 and is really good for the £130 I paid for it, and I mean, really good, far better than it has any right to be, with some HDR and FreeSync too.


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